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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25239958">Particularism</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpellCleaver/pseuds/SpellCleaver'>SpellCleaver</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Constant references to pirates but no actual appearances of pirates, Firmus Piett goes on holiday, Gen, Luke Lars is going to ruin it for him, Mentions of Hondo Ohnaka, Piett doesn't know how to deal with children, Pray For Piett</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 04:01:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>25,492</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25239958</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpellCleaver/pseuds/SpellCleaver</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Captain Firmus Piett was on holiday. He didn't <i>want</i> to go on holiday, but it was fine. It was going well. His sister's family were... nice...</p><p>Then Luke Lars showed up.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Firmus Piett &amp; Darth Vader, Firmus Piett &amp; Luke Skywalker, Firmus Piett &amp; Original Character(s), Luke Skywalker &amp; Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker &amp; Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>121</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>613</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>2020 Star Wars Summer Fic Exchange</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Guest</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyVader23/gifts">LadyVader23</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my fic for the SW summer fic exchange! My fic is for LadyVader, a writer I love, and I really hope she likes it!!</p><p>To work with, I was given the prompts:<br/>1. "Um, I think... I think I had too much."<br/>2. A body swap<br/>3. "It's only just a little bit illegal."</p><p>I... only actually ended up using the last one, and even that didn't make it as an actual line into the fic XD I hope I got the spirit of it across anyway.</p><p>A thousand thank yous to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severnlight/works">Severnlight</a> and <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartOfStars/pseuds/HeartOfStars">HeartOfStars</a> for talking this over with me, looking it over and betaing it; your help was absolutely <i>invaluable</i>, I seriously can't put into words how grateful I am.</p><p>Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p><b><a href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/particularism">Particularism:</a></b><br/>NOUN<br/>1.<br/>exclusive attachment to the interests of one group, class, sect, etc, esp at the expense of the community as a whole<br/><b>2.</b><br/><b>the principle of permitting each state or minority in a federation the right to further its own interests or retain its own laws, traditions, etc.</b></p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Firmus Piett was on holiday.</p><p>Imperial stances on holiday leave for its citizens—military or civilian, though more attention was given to the military purely for the Empire's focus on, well, militarism—were supposedly unambiguous. No one was <em>required</em> to take a holiday that they didn't wish to—indeed, as far as the Empire was concerned, anyone who was <em>dedicated </em>to their jobs were, naturally, not at all inclined to take them if unnecessary. But, if they desperately wished to, they were given a baseline of a few days per standard year! To be increased or decreased on a case by case basis, of course, depending on Rebel activity, necessity of the individual and previous work loads! Which was all well and good, but Piett had originally thought that was never something that he would need to worry about after he'd been assigned to work under Lord Vader, because taking holidays was not a thing he'd ever envisioned himself living long enough to do.</p><p>Yet here he was, and the <em>case by case basis</em> that Imperial bureaucracy approached the matter with was his downfall, now.</p><p>Because the Empire at large was... large. It spanned thousands of worlds, each with individual cultures, worth, and... <em>opinions</em> on how much the Empire should be involved in the day-to-day business, rights and taxation of their citizens. The Regency Worlds were loyal subjects of the crown and were treated easily because of it, their individuality less infringed upon in return for their obedience in matters the Emperor deemed more important. Alderaan and Naboo held their individuality but were expected to openly embrace the Imperial way of life and elite, and bear the same taxes as an Imperial citizen on, say, Coruscant. Many Outer Rim worlds like Tatooine were barely governed by the Empire at all, more in the hands of the Hutt cartels, but complex politics there kept the Imperial presence minimal, if ever-present.</p><p>And on Axxila, Piett's beloved homeworld, the governor had seceded most rights, most laws, to Imperial ones—after all, the place was known for its criminal problems and the general disregard for law and order, Coruscant's dark mirror, so why object to laws changing? It wasn't like they were going to be followed, anyway.</p><p>So upon the Declaration of the New Order, Axxila's laws were steamrolled in favour of the larger Empire's... apart from, that was, an odd few.</p><p>One of which was: Axxilans were <em>required</em> to take a mandatory two weeks' holiday every ten years, at minimum.</p><p>No one knew <em>why</em> that was where the line was drawn. Perhaps the governor in charge at the time of the change didn't think people should be worked and worked and worked like droids without the appropriate recharge. (It was even said that he'd tried to haggle to have that preposterous number of <em>mandatory weeks per ten years</em> increased!) But considering how few Axxilans ever made it high up enough in the Imperial fleet to be considered so necessary they were not at all expendable, the Empire had agreed to those terms without much fuss.</p><p>More's the pity, Piett thought now.</p><p>A muscle twitched in his jaw.</p><p>"Firmus!" his sister shouted from her spot in the kitchen. He could smell tashe, one of the local cuisines that he hadn't had since he'd left for the academy, and despite his distaste for the situation at large his mouth watered. It wasn't much, and Aurelia wasn't much of a cook—never had been—but tashe was just meat and vegetables stewed in a specific way, for a specific amount of time, and until now Piett hadn't realised how much he'd <em>missed it</em>. "Can you watch Luc while I—"</p><p>"I can," he called back before she could finish. He knew what she was going to ask. His nephew had been born and raised to a loud, pudgy creature while he was away, and neither of them had known what to do with each other in the three days since he'd arrived, but he figured he might as well try again. If he could survive Lord Vader's wrath, he could go toe to toe with a nine year old.</p><p>Then he actually looked the kid in the eye and realised that perhaps no, no he could not.</p><p>Lucus was sitting in the living area of their flat, on the sofa that formed a loose triangle with an armchair and a wooden chair around the table, his legs drawn up underneath him in an uncomfortable version of crossed legs that only children were flexible enough to pull off. Piett's legs ached just looking at it.</p><p>Nestled in his lap was a large datapad, which Lucus seemed to find far more fascinating than the uncle who sat tentatively in the armchair across from him, hands folded neatly on his knees. Piett wasn't wearing his Imperial Navy uniform—of course he wasn't, he was off-duty, he was <em>on leave</em>—but in that moment he wished he was. In his uniform, his posture looked impeccable; put together; as the kids would say, <em>cool</em>. Outside of it, he looked like he... well.</p><p>Lucus had accidentally called him <em>stiff</em> when he'd first rocked up on Aurelia's doorstep for the first time in years. And Piett was pretty sure he'd heard something about <em>stuck up</em> when Aurelia had commed him while she and Lucus were at the market, and he'd instinctively answered with, "Piett here."</p><p>Well. That had been three days ago. Three unsuccessful days, but if he was the sort of man to give up after three bad days, Lord Vader would have killed him long enough despite all of his aide's valiant attempts to stop him.</p><p>So Piett affixed a broad smile to his face. It felt insincere. It probably looked it, too. This was worse than talking to Ozzel. "Hello, Lucus. May I see what you're looking at?"</p><p>Lucus frowned deeply at him. He didn't say anything.</p><p>Piett held out a hand—then retracted it. How did one entice younglings into conversation? Was there a specific skill or technique to be used?</p><p>"You've been looking at your datapad all afternoon," he tried again, that grin still on his face. It was starting to hurt. He realised his teeth were gritted too late to stop it from showing in his voice. "I... what is so fascinating about it?" Did that sound condescending? It probably sounded condescending. "That is, I mean to say—what are you looking at? It must be very interesting to hold your attention for this long."</p><p>Seriously. Piett was used to spending his time staring at datapads, but that was because he worked in a highly stressful work environment with countless updates flooding in every second of every hour of every cycle. (Piett already thought his vision was deteriorating particularly quickly from all the artificial light.) Even then, he was fairly sure he'd spend far more time staring if it wasn't for Lars and his stunning capacity for... well, aiding.</p><p>"Luc," Aurelia said sternly from the kitchen, yanking Piett out of his thoughts. He'd forgotten she could hear them. He'd forgotten he was here. For a moment, he'd been back on the <em>Executor</em>—and, he realised with mounting dread, it had been less stressful. "When your uncle talks to you, it's rude to ignore him."</p><p>Lucus scowled, eyebrows furrowing tightly. He shot a look between his mother and his uncle, blue eyes—he hadn't got <em>them</em> from the Piett side of the family, what did Aurelia's wife look like again?—intense.</p><p>"Ah, it's quite alright," Piett said in a placating tone. He sounded like he was trying to make a report to Lord Vader seem less disastrous than it was. Kriff. "I just wanted to start a conversation with you—could I see your screen? I'm sure it'll be just as interesting to me."</p><p>Lucus looked highly doubtful about that. But a nervous glance in the direction of the kitchen, and he was handing it over to his uncle without complaint, though he curled in around himself, like he didn't want to touch Piett. Piett tried not to be offended.</p><p>He just let his fingers clasp around the edge of the datapad and pulled it towards him, raising an eyebrow at the image on the screen. It was... a picture—or a drawing, a digital drawing, of what looked like a scrappy, <em>terribly</em> cared for ship, and a motley crew of all species, several of whom were missing a limb or two and had them replaced with increasingly impractical appendages. They were all standing huddled together in one panel, glaring at something, then the next was just a blur of yellow and orange light with the word <em>POWWWW </em>written across it.</p><p>"You're reading a comic? It looks stimulating," Piett said. For some reason, that attempt to be sympathetic did not register very well with Lucus. "What is it about?"</p><p>"Pirates," Lucus mumbled. He was eyeing his datapad, but clearly didn't have the guts to ask for it back just yet.</p><p>"Oh?" Piett pushed, trying to keep the distaste out of his voice. <em>Pirates</em>. His nine year old nephew was reading a romanticised account about <em>pirates</em>. "You know, I used to hunt pirates for the Axxilan antipirate fleet. Is that a career you would be interested in?"</p><p>Lucus <em>did</em> perk up at that. Finally. "I want to be a pirate," he said, and mimed something with his hand. Pulling the trigger of a blaster, maybe. "Like Captain Ohnaka."</p><p>"Captain... Ohnaka?" Piett took deep breaths.</p><p>"Yeah! Captain Hondo Ohnaka and his crew, they go travelling the galaxy and bring cool stuff back to Florrum, and—"</p><p>"Hondo Ohnaka was a real pirate, you know?" Piett interrupted. The way Lucus's eyes widened to the size of asteroids was quite gratifying, he had to say. He was getting somewhere! Finally!</p><p>"<em>Really</em>?"</p><p>"Yes." Piett nodded. "He was a smuggler, and a spice runner—there was a famous incident during the Clone Wars where he captured two Jedi and a Sith Lord at the same time."</p><p>Lucus looked like he was about to faint. "Did you ever meet him!?"</p><p>"No. He was captured by the Empire and executed for his crimes ten years ago. Quite pathetic at the end, really—his entire crew abandoned him, and sold him out to save their own skins. When he was found it was on a useless freighter, which had been hanging dead in space for a week, and he surrendered without a fuss."</p><p>The light in Lucus's eyes died out.</p><p>"Oh," he said. "Can I have my datapad back?"</p><p>With some disappointment, Piett handed it over. Lucus tapped the screen and the drawing of the explosion disappeared, to be replaced by one of what looked like a shootout. How wonderful.</p><p>He sighed. Perhaps this was impossible. He would only be staying on Axxila for another four days anyway; perhaps he should just admit defeat with Lucus and stumble around him until he left for another ten years. There were no children on the Lady Ex—he was suddenly, viscerally grateful that Lord Vader had no children Piett would have to navigate around or risk his superior's wrath—so he wouldn't need these skills anytime soon anyway. He would see Lucus again once he next came on leave. Surely a nineteen year old would be easier to connect to than a nine year old.</p><p>But Aurelia had no intention of letting him off that easily. Honestly, he'd have thought that younger siblings should have more respect. "Lucus, don't just sit there and read your comic, talk to Uncle Firmus—"</p><p>The doorbell rang.</p><p>Who could that be? Piett didn't have the faintest idea. Perhaps Aurelia was expecting guests for dinner, or perhaps it was another assailant. An odd assailant, to ring the doorbell, perhaps, and this was far from the most lawless part of Axxila, but nowhere on the planet could be considered <em>lawful</em>; there was a reason they needed an antipirate fleet and there was a reason Piett had joined it—</p><p>"Firmus," Aurelia called sweetly. She'd gone to university on Alderaan, and while she rarely showed it, there were certain... genteel qualities she demonstrated on occasion that she'd <em>definitely</em> picked up from her wife. The way her old-fashioned wheedling seemed almost polite was one of them. "Can you get the door for me while I cook?"</p><p>"Of course," he said on instinct. <em>Anything to escape this.</em> Lucus gave him a look, even if Piett doubted he understood exactly what had just gone on.</p><p>He made his way to the front of the living area, past the rack of coats, and glanced at the holoscreen that showed who was outside.</p><p>Then he froze.</p><p>What, by all the stars in the infinite sky, was <em>he</em> doing here—</p><p>He hit the button to open the door immediately, and a blast of cool air swept in. Lucus shifted, Aurelia called, "Who is it?" but Piett just stared.</p><p>"You..."</p><p>"I apologise for interrupting you on leave, Captain," Luke Lars said, scratching the back of his neck, shifting on the balls of his feet and looking all around shifty, suspicious and sheepish. "But I... was on planet, and I had hoped to ask of you a small favour?"</p><p>Piett suddenly regretted wishing he was back on the <em>Executor</em>—the moment he heard that, he had the feeling this would not be good.</p><p>"A—" Piett blinked. "A <em>small favour</em>?" This evening was getting more and more bizarre.</p><p>Lucus had pushed himself to his feet, to see who the young man in the... terribly uncared for Imperial uniform was—was that a rip on his sleeve?—and where he'd come from. Despite the fact that there was no way Lars could see his nephew past Piett, he glanced in that direction and smiled warmly.</p><p>"It's nothing, I promise. I hope," Lars assured him. "And I truly don't mean to intrude, I'll be going as soon as possible. But I remembered from your file that you used to work with the antipirate fleet of Axxila—"</p><p>"That I did." Piett folded his arms, resisting the urge to glower—at Lars <em>or</em> at Lucus. His past as one who combated criminals, pirates, slavers, was not one to be belittled or judged...</p><p>"Well then, I was hoping you could point me in the direction of their headquarters? The headquarters of the public relations branch, at least—the contacts. I have a question to ask of them."</p><p>Piett frowned. "You... you want <em>directions</em>?" The utter surrealism was only increasing...</p><p>"Yes. I had a map, but it was stolen from me, and I appear to have lost my way." He smiled, then added—and <em>he</em> had the wheedling tone that Aurelia seemed to have dumped—"And, if at all possible, could you accompany me to their offices? This query is... of an important nature. An urgent one. I have no wish for it to be slowed down by bureaucracy or misunderstanding, and I believe it may help to have you there to help smooth things over."</p><p>"What do you intend on doing?" Axxila may have submitted most its laws to Imperial ones, if only because no one was policing their laws anyway, but the antipirate fleet were <em>fiercely</em> protective of what they had. (Piett cringed just thinking about the palaver it had been trying to transfer to the Imperial Navy.) If Lars thought this would be a... <em>problematic</em>... visit...</p><p>"I'm afraid that that is classified at this moment, Captain. You understand that that is not a matter of trust, but what I'm at liberty to reveal?"</p><p>Piett oomphed. Or maybe he hmphed instead; the sounds were pretty similar.</p><p>"How did you know where I live? Where Aurelia lives?" he asked instead, buying for time. Clearly, Lars noticed that, but he didn't object to it at all.</p><p>Piett had always wondered—though never <em>regretted</em>—how Lord Vader seemed to get along so well with an aide who was... well. So <em>nice</em>.</p><p>Lars shrugged. "It was in your leave report."</p><p>"Right..." If Piett wasn't mistaken—and he was relatively sure he wasn't—that sort of thing was classified for an officer as high-ranking as he was. Only Piett's immediate superior—Ozzel—and Lord Vader should know what planet he was on, let alone his specific address. And while it was entirely possible that Lars was the aide who'd been given that report to file, something told him he wasn't nearly as innocent as he first appeared.</p><p>But he <em>was</em> Lord Vader's most trusted underling. And he technically bore his authority. And <em>technically</em>, if Luke Lars was jumped and mugged or killed on Axxila, especially if Piett was known to have spoken with him first, Piett might as well just kiss his Imperial career goodbye.</p><p>He didn't know what was going on. Between Lucus and Lars, he was beginning to grow resigned to it.</p><p>"Very well," he said. "I suppose there's no other explanation for me to accept."</p><p>Lars beamed. Piett snorted.</p><p>"I will accompany you tomorrow," he agreed finally. He didn't have a choice, after all.</p><p>Lars nodded his acceptance. "Thank you, Captain. I'll be back—"</p><p>"<em>Firmus</em>," Aurelia said, well, firmly. She strode out of the kitchen then, and paused when she saw Luke at the door. Piett supposed the main thing she was noticing about him at first was how <em>young</em> he was. Piett himself was too used to it by now. "Who is this?"</p><p>Piett swallowed. "Ah, Aurelia, this is Lars, one of my superior's aides, with whom I work on a regular basis."</p><p>Both Aurelia and Lars snorted at the same time. Lars had the grace to try to cover it up with a cough, but Aurelia muttered, "<em>Whom</em>."</p><p>Piett rolled his eyes. "Lars, this is my sister, Aurelia, and her son." Lucus had sidled over to his mother and was... not <em>hiding behind her skirt</em>, but certainly hanging slightly closer to her than before.</p><p>Lars smiled brightly. "Hello," he greeted, "I'm Luke."</p><p>Lucus's eyes blew wide. He glanced at Aurelia who smiled and said, "This is Luc."</p><p>Lars turned that brilliant smile on Lucus, who looked like he'd frozen in front of a searchlight. "Ah, but he's a much cooler Luke than I am." He gestured to Lucus's datapad. "Is that <em>The Adventures of the Captain</em>?"</p><p>Lucus's eyes went wide. "<em>Yes</em>!" he crowed.</p><p>"Which issue are you on?"</p><p>"Twenty seven! Lord Ukood's Revenge!"</p><p>"That's a good one." Lars was grinning. Piett was... unnerved by all of this. "My best friend <em>loves</em> that comic series, and it was my favourite as a kid."</p><p>"I like—"</p><p>"Firmus," Aurelia said sternly, "Luke's standing on the doorstep shivering, aren't you going to let him in?"</p><p>Piett glanced back at Lars, who shook his head. He also shook most of his body; he <em>was</em> shivering—it was cold in this part of Axxila at night—but he just said, "It's fine, I was just stopping by quickly to ask your brother a favour. I'll be on my way."</p><p>"Would you like to stay for dinner? My wife, Carina, is away for now, we have an extra place. And my brother never talks about his work," Piett was feeling increasingly attacked by this conversation, "so it'd be lovely to talk to you a bit more! And I'm sure Luc wants to talk comics with you, since no one else in the house will." Lucus, who had been bouncing on the balls of his feet looking eager, flushed bright red but kept looking eager.</p><p>Yet again, Piett was being singled out.</p><p>"Uhhh," Lars said. "If you'll have me."</p><p>"Of course," she said, and dragged him inside.</p>
<hr/><p>Dinner was... an awkward affair. At least it was on Piett's part. He just sat there next to Lars and shifted uncomfortably as his sister shot him increasingly pointed looks, but this wasn't his area of expertise! He'd never signed up to a holiday at all, let alone a holiday where he had to entertain his superior's assistant.</p><p>Fortunately, he wasn't doing much of the entertaining. Lucus seemed to have taken a shine to Lars immediately, and while they nattered about comics with Aurelia chiming in whenever she could, he just... sat that. Eating tashe.</p><p>It was very good tashe, he'd give it that.</p><p>"Do you work on a starship, Luke?" Lucus asked. Lars smiled.</p><p>"I do. I work with your uncle here—we help hunt down Rebels and protect the Empire." He pointed at Lucus's datapad, left lying on the counter on the other side of the room; he wasn't allowed to read comics at the dinner table. "It's my job in particular to keep things organised so that pilots like Belle can do their jobs fighting pirates."</p><p>"You're like Alfie?"</p><p>Who in the stars was Alfie? Lars clearly knew. "Yes," he said, "exactly."</p><p>Lucus frowned. "I prefer Belle."</p><p>"She's a great character, definitely. She's my favourite too."</p><p>"Why didn't you become a pilot then?"</p><p>Lars blinked. "I wanted to," he admitted. "But Lord Vader—my superior, that is—asked me to become his aide, since he— since he thought it was what I'd be <em>best at</em>, and it's also very exciting. You know characters like Nikrat?"</p><p>Lucus crumpled his nose. "I hate Nikrat."</p><p>"Believe me, so do I. And the Empire's not perfect, but my job means I can find out where people like Captain Nikrat are being evil and abusing their power, and Lord Vader does his best to put a stop to that."</p><p>"But <em>Belle</em> put a stop to that! She and Hondo..."</p><p>"And they got hurt badly. If I do my job right, no one gets hurt at all but Nikrat is still taken down."</p><p>Lucus was still staring up at Lars, and Piett suspected he'd be hearing a lot less about Captain Hondo, and a lot more about Luke Lars in the next four days.</p><p>"Wow," Lucus said. Aurelia smiled, glanced between them.</p><p>Well, Piett thought. If Lucus had to pick up a role model or a hero to look up to, Lars was a fairly sane, stable person. He was sensible, he could control Lord Vader's temper well enough, and he even looked fairly similar to Lucus—his hair was naturally lighter than Lucus's dark brown, but browned from the lack of sunlight he saw in space, and their eyes were very similar. <em>That</em> was who Piett had been reminded of earlier.</p><p>"Where are you from, Luke?" Aurelia leaned forwards to ask. "We've talked a lot about Luc but not much about you."</p><p>Lars shrugged. "I'm from Tatooine," he said, smiling. "There isn't much of interest out there."</p><p>"You mean where all the pirates go to get jobs?"</p><p>Great. They were back to pirates.</p><p>"Yes, but it's not that interesting. I was a moisture farmer in the middle of the desert. Life was pretty dull until I went to the Imperial Academy."</p><p>"Outer Rim hicks don't usually come to work for <em>Lord Vader</em>," Aurelia pointed out, shooting looks between Lars and Piett. "Yet I'm talking to two of them."</p><p>Lars shrugged. "I got lucky. Vader ran into me at the academy, took a shine to me." He took a sip of his drink—just milk, Piett noted, which he supposed meant a lot more knowing he was from Tatooine—and didn't say anything more about it. "What about you? How do you spend your time?"</p><p>"I work at the local tax company," she said drolly, standing up to spoon more tashe onto Lucus's plate. He glared at it, but glanced at her—she didn't even look his way before he sighed and kept eating. Piett couldn't fail to notice that the portion she'd given him was far more heavy on vegetables than the one he'd taken for himself. "Not that interesting. But my wife is an officer for the local police force—not the massive antipirate fleet Firmus used to fight, but on a more local level. She's dealing with a kidnapping case in the lower levels, this evening."</p><p>Lars leaned in. "Really? From what I've heard about Axxila—and I mean no offence," he added hurriedly, "as someone from Tatooine—but she must be very brave. Axxila seems like a complex place to police."</p><p>"As layered and problematic as Coruscant but not as well-regarded or funded," Aurelia agreed. "I actually met Carina on Alderaan, where she's from, but she insisted on moving here when I needed to care for my parents, and then we just never left. She's put down roots here."</p><p>"She's from Alderaan?" Lars asked politely. "My sister used to live there—I had thought they were fairly pacifist as a whole."</p><p>"Well, the terrorist Leia Organa ought to tell you otherwise," Piett muttered.</p><p>Both Aurelia and Lars looked at him. "Princess Leia Organa was a respectable member of the Imperial Senate," Lars observed—not without humour, which seemed... odd. Aurelia was definitely displeased with him.</p><p>"She was one of Carina's idols," she said, "despite the..."</p><p>He felt hot. "Destroying the Death Star business?" he bit out. "Even before that, she was clearly a Rebel. The amount of times Lord Vader almost caught her red-handed, and with a <em>blaster</em>... you were there in person, Lars."</p><p>Lars just shook his head. "I understand where you are coming from, Captain, but I always prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt. I do not approve of the wanton destruction... the murder involved... but one has to see her perspective. The Death Star itself threatened murder by its nature. It courted disaster."</p><p>"So you would sit down and <em>talk to her</em> about its destruction if you could?"</p><p>"As I said—benefit of the doubt." Lars winked at Lucus. "You never know when you'll need an ally one day."</p><p>Great. Now Lucus looked even more starstruck.</p><p>"Is Lord Vader aware you hold these opinions?"</p><p>"Is my lord aware that I am capable of critical thinking? Of course." He smiled slightly. "We've had discussions about this before."</p><p>Piett... relaxed. Minutely. Lars was a loyal servant of the Empire—he knew that. If Lord Vader knew about these opinions of his and still tolerated them—perhaps even approved of them—then Piett could trust him. He was simply trying to view the situation from an objective stance.</p><p>And Piett hadn't exactly adored the Death Star, either. Even if the death count was... staggering...</p><p>"Well, I apologise for my rash words," Piett said. "Allow me to change the subject. You said you had a sister on Alderaan?"</p><p>If anything, Lars looked even more amused. "I do, Captain. I don't hear from her often, but it's always a delight when I do."</p><p>"I didn't know you had a sister."</p><p>"I didn't know <em>you</em> had a sister," he pointed out. Aurelia snorted.</p><p>"So what does Carina do?" Lars asked, turning back to her. "I'm curious how an Alderaanian might approach social problems so different to those at home..."</p>
<hr/><p>The rest of dinner flew back on the wings of Lars's charming conversation, and Piett was really starting to resent the kid. He just seemed so... <em>put together</em>, except no, because that would imply he was a politician. He just wasn't cunning at all; very charming, and very likeable, and Piett had no idea how to trust that.</p><p>It had been long enough since Lars had started as Lord Vader's aide that he was accustomed to him in an official capacity, but in a social capacity... he was strange. And he seemed on edge, even as none of his charm seemed forced.</p><p>Once everyone had finished, and Lucus was sent to bed for the night, Lars insisted on helping Piett wash up the dishes. They chatted unnaturally about natural things and then Lars was glancing at the time and saying that he should probably go.</p><p>"Do you have somewhere to stay?" Aurelia asked once he was at the door, pulling on his jacket over his uniform. It was a pretty well-made jacket, that didn't <em>scream</em> it, but it was plain and black and Piett thought it might work very well against the cold night. "Are you sure you don't want to stay the night here?"</p><p>"I'm fine," Lars said easily. "I know where I wish to sleep, and I wouldn't want to be a bother."</p><p>"On the contrary, it's been a pleasure having you."</p><p>Lars smiled, a little tightly. "Tell Luc I said goodbye?"</p><p>"I will. And drop by again before you leave the planet?"</p><p>"I will." Lars nodded at Piett. "Captain."</p><p>"Lars."</p><p>"I think you can just call me Luke, now," he said with a laugh. "I share a name with your nephew."</p><p>Thankfully, before Piett could respond to that horrendous breach of protocol, he left, shutting the door firmly behind him.</p><p>"Well," Aurelia said, "he seemed lovely."</p><p>"He is," Piett had to concede. "He's one of the least obnoxious to work with on the Lady."</p><p>"The Lady?"</p><p>"The <em>Executor</em>."</p><p>"Your ship?"</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>Aurelia gave him a look. "You know, you don't talk about your work much."</p><p>"It <em>is</em> mostly classified."</p><p>She sighed. "Do you like Luke?"</p><p>Piett thought about it.</p><p>"I do," he admitted. "He's hardworking, and a genuine lifesaver—" He cut himself off. "He's managed to turn around a lot of doomed projects in his time."</p><p>"I know the rumours about Vader, Firmus. You mean he stops them from happening?"</p><p>"I mean that Vader likes him, and he's good at containing such situations before they occur."</p><p>"Can't blame Vader. Luke's nice."</p><p>"He is."</p><p>She looked at him slyly. "So who else has he saved? Who <em>isn't</em> so nice on board <em>the</em> <em>Lady</em>?"</p><p>"Aurelia..."</p><p>"What? You've been away for ten years. Your comms and messages are sporadic. Is wanting to know what has my big brother so distracted a crime? You're on leave." She jabbed his arm. "Come talk to your sister."</p><p>Piett smiled. "Alright. Now, you've heard about Luke Lars."</p><p>"That I have. Why did he even come round anyway?"</p><p>Piett shrugged. "He wanted me to accompany him to the headquarters of the antipirate fleet tomorrow—he has an enquiry to make and thinks it might go smoother if I'm there."</p><p>Aurelia frowned. "Tomorrow is Augustus Day, Firmus. The headquarters—at least, the ones that accept enquiries from outside sources—would've closed by sunset."</p><p>Piett paused. Then he groaned. "You're right."</p><p>"Did you forget the date?"</p><p>"No, I just forgot that we technically have a day celebrating an ancient warlord who nobody's worshipped in years."</p><p>"Technically he invented space travel."</p><p>"So the story says," Piett drawled. Aurelia snorted. "Poor Lars—"</p><p>"He asked you to call him Luke."</p><p>Piett rolled his eyes. "Poor Luke, then. Won't they be closed until Primeday?"</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>"I'd better go after him." He got to his feet and reached for his coat, hanging on the rack. It was heavier and... <em>browner</em>... than his Imperial uniform, and that made him feel oddly dirty. "Let him know. He can't have gone far."</p><p>"We'll make a polite person out of the military man in you yet."</p><p>"Military men <em>are</em> polite."</p><p>"Except when they have blasters."</p><p>Piett gave her an odd look, but she just glanced at the door. "You'll have to hurry, though. He seemed to know where he was going."</p><p>"That," he said, "would be the oddest thing of all."</p><p>He stepped out into the night and glanced left and right. The walkway around this building on this part of the ecumenopolis was narrow, with thin railings, but widened as it looped around the side to join into a wider walkway, where speeders could occasionally run and be parked.</p><p>Luke had completely vanished, but he thought he heard... something—grunts? A scuffle?—to his left, so he turned the corner and...</p><p>Ducked just as a loose railing went flying over his head and clattered into the night.</p><p>He cursed. Reached for the blaster at his side, hit only empty air; cursed again. But he ran right around the corner towards the noise.</p><p>Dug further into his pocket for the teeny tiny blaster Aurelia actually let him carry inside her flat, thumbed the trigger, because—</p><p>Luke grunted as he was slammed into the wall, blood trickling from one of his nostrils, but he drove his knee into his assailant's sternum and they staggered back with a gasp. Piett caught the briefest glimpse of their face before they hunkered over and rammed at Luke again—near-human, heavily scarred, with one bloodshot crimson eye and a build like a mountain. He lunged at Luke, but—</p><p>Luke was not there.</p><p>Instead, Luke flipped over him, neatly, landing <em>on the railing over the air lane, was that boy insane</em>, teetered, then threw himself forwards again to latch onto his shoulders. The guy roared, but Luke knotted his hands around his throat—</p><p>"<em>Why</em>," Luke hissed, "<em>were you following me!?</em>"</p><p>He was tossed in response. He rolled when he hit the duracrete and got up just as quickly, but then Piett stepped in while the man was still staggering from the effort and shot him neatly across the bicep.</p><p>It was a tiny blaster. It was a tiny shot. But it bled a lot, it caught the man off guard, and he whipped his head around to <em>stare</em>.</p><p>"Get out of here before I call the regional police," Piett snapped, and memorised his face, his build, the injuries Luke had given him.</p><p>The man snarled, but just shot Luke a death glare and lumbered off. He had a speeder parked on the stretch of wider land ahead of them and revved it to go, shooting off into the night.</p><p>Piett sighed, and turned to Luke—only to be taken aback by the mutinous look he got in return. "I could have handled him."</p><p>"You are very welcome." He put his blaster away and faced him full on, frowning. He'd always known the boy was young, but seeing him outright <em>pouting</em> like Lucus drove the point home.</p><p>Luke rolled his eyes. "He was following me for a reason, and I wanted to find out why. I don't have anything on me worth stealing—only a lot of Imperial credits."</p><p>"Those are next to worthless out here."</p><p>"I noticed. But I didn't have the heart to tell the Emperor his <em>generosity</em> was empty."</p><p>Piett's eyebrows climbed higher and higher on his face. "The <em>Emperor</em>?"</p><p>"Indeed. It was with his blessing that I came here, Captain. It has nothing to do with you."</p><p>"His blessing? Not Lord Vader's?"</p><p>Luke's expression... <em>soured</em>. No, that wasn't quite the right word; it tensed, and scowled, and... yes, actually. <em>Soured</em>.</p><p>"Everything I do is on my... <em>lord's</em> behalf," he said. He raised his hand to wipe away the blood trickling onto his lip. "I thought that was a given."</p><p>"Then what <em>are</em> you doing here?"</p><p>Luke gave Piett a look. It was a steady, assessing look—Piett felt judged, but also reassured. The boy may seem a bit feral, but he still had his wits about him. He was still just as sane as before.</p><p>"Thank you for your help, Captain," Luke said. "Now I'd best be on my way. I'll see you tomorrow."</p><p>And without waiting for Piett to respond, he just started walking along the walkway, towards the bridge to the other side.</p><p>"You won't," Piett called after him. "Aurelia just reminded me: it's a planetary holiday tomorrow. The civilian contact branch of the Axxilan antipirate fleet will be closed until Primeday."</p><p>The boy's hands clenched at his sides. For the first time, Piett realised he was wearing black gloves.</p><p>"That's too far away," Luke said distantly. Piett didn't think he was talking to him.</p><p>Piett shrugged. "That's bureaucracy for you, I'm afraid. It's the local laws."</p><p>"This is Axxila. Nobody follows the local laws."</p><p>"Well. We do our best. I <em>did</em> my best," Piett said pointedly.</p><p>Luke sighed, and turned around again. The harsh light of the lamps that thrust out of the sides of the buildings like eyes cast his anguished face in stark contrast, but he said graciously, "You're right, Captain. I apologise." He bowed his head. "I'll just be heading back to my residence, now."</p><p><em>Residence</em>. Interesting way of putting it.</p><p>"I'll accompany you," Piett said. "Is it far from here? Do you have a speeder?"</p><p>"It's an hour's walk by foot," Luke admitted easily.</p><p>"Then we'll take Aurelia's speeder. I'm sure she won't mind."</p><p>Luke gave him another searching look. "You're sure? You want to come with me?"</p><p>The intensity in his eyes baffled Piett, but he said, "Yes. I wouldn't offer if I didn't mean it."</p><p>And then there was the matter of if Luke got jumped, Piett would have Lord Vader to answer to—without a magical Ensign Lars to defuse the situation.</p><p>Luke smiled a little. "Alright, then. Lead the way."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>A few notes:<br/>- Hondo did not get executed. He escaped and faked his execution and is still out there, swindling the galaxy at large.<br/>- Nikrat and Ukood are totally Tarkin and Dooku, just in children's comic form as exaggerated villains.<br/>- Everything about Axxilan culture, local laws and establishments I made up completely XD But Wookieepedia was super helpful in everything else.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Break-In</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Aurelia's speeder was surprisingly nice—he wasn't sure <em>why</em> he was surprised at that, considering he'd been surprised by how nice her flat was when he'd first shown up three days ago, but apparently her dull tax job and Carina's more engaging policing work paid better than Piett's parents' jobs ever had. She did give him an amused look when he returned with Luke in tow, as well as an alarmed one to Luke's bloodied face, but agreed to let them take the speeder, even if she did give them... a few thousand warnings while she was at it.</p><p>And soon enough—after Luke had cleaned his face—they were sailing through the airlanes. Piett... was not much of a flier, he didn't like commanding any ship smaller than the Lady Ex herself, but apparently Luke hadn't been kidding when he'd told Lucus that he'd wanted to be a pilot, at one point. The ride was so smooth and skilled it would've been relaxing, had they not been plummeting horizontally through this air at speeds so fast that the slightest twitch would have sent Piett splattering against a duracrete and transparisteel wall, just another smear for the overworked traffic wardens and droids to clear up.</p><p>Piett wondered if Luke would slow down if he asked him to. Probably not.</p><p>When they did slow, though, at last... Piett's suspicions mounted. It was far easier to tell where they were flying when their surroundings were not, in fact, a complete blur.</p><p>"Your <em>residence</em> is conveniently close to the antipirate headquarters, I have to say," Piett told him. "Did you know you'd be heading there when you first arrived? You certainly didn't need me to give you directions."</p><p>"No," Luke said. "I didn't."</p><p>Piett crossed his arms as they slowed to a stop in midair, letting the flood of traffic go by opposite them as they waited to continue. "If you intend to take me with you to the offices <em>now</em>, that will not work. The holiday lasts from sunset; it will already be closed and locked up. There will be no one there to let us in."</p><p>"Who says," Luke said cheekily, and then they shot forwards faster than Piett could gasp for air, "we're being <em>let</em> in?"</p><p>Piett gaped. "<em>Lars</em>—"</p><p>"When I say this is important, Captain," Luke said firmly, "I mean it. I apologise if I'm offending any of your sensibilities—"</p><p>"I may be a loyal servant of the Empire, but I don't care if you have the authority of Lord Vader himself—I am not simply going to watch you break every Axxilan law I spent years of my life trying to defend!"</p><p>Luke winced. He brought the speeder to a halt on a walkway just along from the headquarters, and climbed out.</p><p>"You don't have to watch," he said. "You can go back to your sister's home. You can wait here. You can report me to the local authorities." He smiled, a little wickedly. "Or you can help."</p><p>Piett squawked. "<em>What</em>—"</p><p>"I'm here for Lord Vader. You're loyal to him, aren't you?"</p><p>"I am <em>also</em> loyal to my homeworld, I am not about to betray it." He clambered out of the speeder after Luke and glared. "I cannot believe that Lord Vader would have ordered you to do this, either—this is not his standard mode of operation."</p><p>"No. It's not." Luke didn't meet his eye.</p><p>And suddenly, Piett had a <em>really</em> bad feeling about this. "Did Lord Vader order you to do this?"</p><p>"Explicitly?"</p><p>"<em>Yes. Explicitly</em>."</p><p>Luke shut off the power on the speeder, locked it up as best he could, and started walking along towards the headquarters.</p><p>"I wouldn't be breaking in if it was open," he tried to reassure Piett when he followed. "But this is something very important—and time sensitive."</p><p>"<em>Did Lord Vader order you to do this?</em>"</p><p>"Don't you think I'd just comm the admiral of the fleet and demand he open for Imperial investigations if he had?" Luke shot back. "No. My... lord did not specifically order me to do this. But rest assured that this is being done with his blessing, even if he was not here to authorise it."</p><p>"His <em>blessing</em>? What makes you so certain of that? Lord Vader is dedicated to the continued security and safety of the Empire—"</p><p>"As am I."</p><p>"<em>Axxila is a part of the Empire!</em>"</p><p>"I know."</p><p>Piett took a deep breath. They were coming up on the headquarters now: several levels of a particularly vast starscraper, dark and quiet up ahead, the metal and transparisteel structure reflecting the lights of the speeders that went by.</p><p>"Please, Lars—Luke," he said. "Go back to your hotel. There will still be guards at the headquarters, anyway, <em>people</em> who can be reasoned with, and I still have contacts—if this is so desperate, I can get you in there tomorrow as soon as possible."</p><p>Luke didn't even grant him a glance. He just pulled out a set of macrobinoculars, and trained them on the building. "I don't have a hotel, Captain," he said baldly. "I told you—I only have Imperial credits, and not many hotels will take those around here. The shuttle that dropped me off here went back to the <em>Executor</em> after I arrived, so I've been squatting."</p><p>Of course.</p><p>"You know," he said, "squatting is <em>also</em> a crime on Axxila."</p><p>Luke just snorted. "It's not one you can do anything about, though. Not on a planet like this."</p><p>"That doesn't mean that a man of the law like yourself should disregard such a regulation."</p><p>"Yeah." Luke put away the macrobinoculars. "Well, why don't you just add <em>breaking and entering</em>, <em>lying to a superior</em> and possibly <em>treason</em> to my list of crimes while you're at it. I wouldn't want you to forget to do so later."</p><p>"<em>Treason</em>—?"</p><p>Luke was already moving.</p><p>Piett thought about it. Thought about just... doing as he suggested, and turning the boy in. It would be the right thing to do, though Aurelia would probably chide him for selling out a guest later on. Piett had served this fleet, poured blood, sweat and tears into it, before he'd caught the eye of Lord Vader and been taken over onto the <em>Executor</em>.</p><p>But he doubted Luke was going to do it harm. This was illegal, but... whatever gripe Luke had with it, he wouldn't destroy the place. He wouldn't.</p><p>Right?</p><p>"<em>Luke!</em>" he hissed, jogging to catch up to him. "What, exactly, do you <em>need</em> from the fleet?"</p><p>"Not much. Just the records of pirate activity in this sector in the last week."</p><p>Piett blinked. "That's <em>it</em>?" That was— well, it wasn't public, published knowledge, lest the pirates be able to check it and know whose trail was being followed, but it <em>was</em> fairly open to most legitimate organisations. Piett remembered well, several times, giving the information to the Republic, then the Empire, for free, the few times he'd had a shift at the desk of the public relations branch—the branch that Luke would no doubt have wanted to deal with, that was now closed for the holiday. Why did he need to break into the place? Why didn't he just contact them from the <em>Executor</em> and demand they hand it over, as an aide of Lord Vader had the influence to do?</p><p>"There's a reason I can't go through public, official channels for this, Piett," Luke hissed quietly, and Piett scowled. He knew that Lord Vader could read minds; Luke had probably just guessed what he was thinking. "And I can't tell you what that is, but trust me—not getting caught, and not having any <em>enquiries</em> into what I'm doing, as well as <em>getting that information</em>, is absolutely <em>paramount</em> to the future of the Empire."</p><p>Piett didn't have the faintest idea how it could be.</p><p>But he looked at Luke—Ensign Luke Lars, the lowest ranking but most beloved of Lord Vader's aides. He'd saved more lives than Piett could count, just through his presence; he worked hard and it was always a pleasure dealing with him, his reports; he had been working for Vader since he was eighteen; he had proven himself, in the years since, to be a solid, dependable person who wanted the best for everyone. Piett would confess to genuinely liking him, when they were on the Lady Ex and he was as relaxed as he ever was—when he hadn't rocked up on Piett's sister's doorstep and immediately shown Piett up as a terrible uncle.</p><p>"This information," he said, every inch of him rebelling at the words, "it's important?"</p><p>Luke nodded fiercely, brow creasing—and suddenly Piett realised how tired he looked. How <em>stressed</em>.</p><p>How important was this information?</p><p>"How well have you slept while you've been... squatting?" Piett asked carefully.</p><p>Luke shrugged. Piett knew that look on his face. It was the same one he gave to Max when he asked that question.</p><p>He sighed.</p><p>"There's a back entrance," he said. "Secret, and very well hidden—if they haven't changed the layout of the building since I left, that is, but they're tight enough on funds anyway that I doubt it. There's a code to the door that changes regularly—"</p><p>"I can get the door open," Luke said, confidence strong in his stance. Piett raised an eyebrow.</p><p>"Alright," he said. "Do you want me to show you where the door is?"</p><p>"You're helping me?" There wasn't surprise in Luke's voice, but there was a weight to it, and to his gaze. Piett felt... <em>examined</em>, and knew that Luke understood the gravity of this moment.</p><p>"Yes," Piett said, despite himself. "I am. If only to ensure that you don't tear up the place before you find what you're looking for."</p><p>Luke grinned.</p><p>Perhaps that grin should have warned him of the insanity that was to come—it was broad, it was wild, and it was <em>flooded</em> with <em>relief</em>.</p>
<hr/><p>They took the speeder down to where Piett remembered the door to be, and Luke perched on top of the walkway's railing as Piett stood in front of it, studying the keypad. Piett did his best to ignore him—and the fathomless drop he teetered on the edge of. Perhaps Luke was on the edge of something, both physically and mentally. He seemed pretty strained.</p><p>"This is the back door I was talking about," Piett said.</p><p>Luke nodded, and leapt neatly off the railing—the railing whose metal struts were the width of his thumb. And creaked under his weight. Piett tried not to think about it—to pad over and study the keypad.</p><p>"The code is changed regularly, I told you," Piett reminded him. "There won't be any wear on the keys to show which one is the most used."</p><p>Luke laughed quietly. "That's not what I'm looking for."</p><p>Piett just sighed and stepped back to let the boy do his thing.</p><p>He furrowed his brow. Ghosted his fingertips along the top of the keys, hand trembled with fine shivers, so small they were almost impossible for the eye to detect. Piett watched as he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, slipped his fingers over the pad again...</p><p>Then his thumb slid down, confidently, to hit 9. His index finger slid up to hit 1. His three other fingers fanned out: 7, 2, 4.</p><p>The light beeped and the heavy metal door ground open.</p><p>Piett blinked. "How did you—"</p><p>"Get inside." Luke nearly <em>snapped</em> the order, his shoulders suddenly tense; he glanced at Piett, then behind them, then around. <em>Above</em>. Like there was some great celestial gaze bearing down on him, staring. "Now. We don't have time to dawdle."</p><p>"The holocams—" Piett said.</p><p>"I've deactivated them. For now. We have one hour."</p><p>"The guards—"</p><p>"Are on the other side of the building in their perimeter sweep. They'll be back here in seven minutes, but by then we'll be in the data vaults, hopefully."</p><p>"<em>Hopefully?</em>"</p><p>"We'll only be there," Luke said pointedly, gesturing Piett onwards with his chin, "if you <em>move</em>."</p><p>Piett pursed his lips. But he went in.</p><p>The place was exactly how he remembered it. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.</p><p>The corridors were the same dull gray, flecked and worn with years of the same people marching through. The lights flickered on when they detected movement; the harsh, artificial sort of light that was found on the Lady Ex as well, but banished from Aurelia's warm, homely flat. It relaxed him.</p><p>"Well?" Luke whispered, shutting the door firmly behind him. Piett had been still for so long that the lights were starting their cycle to shut down again. "Which way to the vaults?"</p><p>"The <em>help desk</em>," Piett said pointedly, "is along this corridor, a sharp right at the next corridor and the second door on the left."</p><p>"Noted. And the vaults?"</p><p>Piett rolled his eyes. "Are you sure Lord Vader—"</p><p>"Isn't it a bit late for doubts, Piett?"</p><p>"Isn't it a bit late for you to be breaking into a respected antipirate fleet's bureaucratic headquarters?"</p><p>Luke snorted. "It's the middle of the night. That's the point. And <em>respected</em> is a strong word, I have to say." He frowned down the corridor, something... flickering in his face. Piett watched him with alarm.</p><p>Alarm was a familiar emotion when one served in the Imperial Navy, particularly under one Lord Vader. But nonetheless, Piett was growing increasingly intimately acquainted with it tonight. He wasn't a fan.</p><p>"Along here," he finally conceded. "Follow me." And they started walking.</p><p>It was a few minutes and three close calls later, only avoided by Luke somehow knowing the perimeter guards were coming ahead of time and dragging Piett into a random room to avoid them, that they arrived at the door. It required another pass code; once again, Luke just closed his eyes, let his fingers type, and they were in. Piett watched him work with narrowed eyes—he had to wonder how he was doing this, and why...</p><p>And then Piett lifted his gaze to the records. They stretched metres above his head.</p><p>Axxila was like Coruscant in many ways, he knew. But unlike Coruscant, it was not the centre of the galaxy. It did not have all the latest technology.</p><p>Or, he thought uncharitably, eyeing the stacks of <em>flimsi</em>, technology from the last few centuries.</p><p>"How are you intending," he turned to Luke, who barely blinked at the show of archaic sensibilities, just striding forwards with a single-minded look on his face that was actually somewhat terrifying, "to sort through all of this?"</p><p>Luke snorted. "I only need records from the last week. Specifically about hostage situations."</p><p>Piett eyed the stacks. "And you think that will help?"</p><p>"I don't care how backwater of a planet Axxila is, they ought to have computer systems and datapads they put the more recent records on," Luke said, eyes alighting on such a computer and making a beeline for it. "Shouldn't you know this, anyway? You used to work here."</p><p>Piett shifted on his feet. "I..."</p><p>Luke raised his eyebrows, without so much as looking up from the console. It bleeped, demanding a password. By now, Piett had learned that nothing so flimsy as a password would stop Luke Lars.</p><p>"I never worked in the information or storage part of the fleet," he said. "I didn't even spend much time here. My skills lay in battle, on the ships."</p><p>Luke huffed a quiet laugh. "I've seen that, Captain," he assured him warmly, and for a moment he seemed more like his sunny, put together, only-thing-on-the-<em>Executor</em>-saving-them-from-Lord-Vader's-wrath, self. "And I can believe it. No wonder my... lord wanted you so badly."</p><p>"Yes, well." Piett took a deep breath. "Have you found what you're looking for?"</p><p>"It's been less than a minute."</p><p>"And if I'm not mistaken, dawn is less than an hour away." Piett checked his chrono; he was mistaken, but by a very small margin. "You will need to hurry."</p><p>"Why? It's not like there'll be anyone arriving tomorrow morning to find us."</p><p>Piett was trained in military manoeuvres, keeping the peace at board meetings, and not stepping on superiors' toes—figuratively <em>and</em> literally, when his lord's tendency to <em>loom</em> flared up. He was not trained in the art of sassy comebacks, which was why he thought it prudent to stay silent.</p><p>"Come help me," Luke said. "There's a bunch of files here, with codenames—which one is which?"</p><p>"Well. The <em>lost gold</em> one is about hostages," Piett pointed out. "See how it's cross-linked with <em>sector patrols</em>? That one's actually about the pirates and pirate activity picked up in this sector—and hostages will undoubtedly fall under that category."</p><p>"<em>Undoubtedly</em>?" Luke echoed, but he opened the <em>lost gold</em> file with an eagerness and speed that belied his scepticism. "Are you sure?"</p><p>"Well, most likely. Who else would do the kidnapping?"</p><p>Luke swallowed. Got out, through gritted teeth, "Rebels."</p><p>Then he started to scan the documents. There were thousands of them. He scanned as fast as he could; Piett doubted he could even read, with his pupils blurring the way they were.</p><p>"Stop that," Piett said finally. Luke didn't stop. Piett scowled, grabbed his shoulder, and physically pulled his back. "<em>Stop that</em>."</p><p>Piett was short, but Luke was shorter. He went—met his scowl with one of his own. "<em>What</em>?"</p><p>"You'll make yourself dizzy, reading so fast." Piett glanced back at the monitor, whose screen was still lit up with scrolling lists of Aurebesh text—it hadn't even finished loading, yet. "Why are you so intent on this?"</p><p>"What do you mean?" Luke tried to fold his arms; it was fairly obvious it was to stop them from trembling.</p><p>"I am no fool, Luke, and I would appreciate it if you did not treat me as such." Despite the harsh words, Piett found that his grip was light when he rested it on Luke's shoulder. The boy had... clearly had a hard time with whatever this mission was. He was fraying. "You know that you can trust me—that Lord Vader does."</p><p>Luke looked at him for a moment with wide blue eyes. "Yes," he said finally. "That he does." The quiet, unending certainty was both chilling and gratifying, all at once.</p><p>Piett didn't dwell on it. "Then I'd appreciate that you trust me now, with the knowledge of whatever information you are looking for—whatever you are doing here. I can help you, and this does not seem to be a burden you can bear alone."</p><p>Luke sucked in a deep breath. Let it out.</p><p>"What hostage are you looking for?" Piett pressed, peering at the computer again. "Who are you after?"</p><p>And finally, after a long silence, Luke said, "Lord Vader."</p><p>Piett's hand fell from his shoulder.</p><p>Silence reigned for several long minutes—on Luke's part, because he was watching Piett closely; on Piett's part because he was gawking like a fish swallowing water.</p><p>Finally, he... managed to squeak. Get <em>some</em> sort of word out. And that word was, not unexpectedly: "<em>What</em>?"</p><p>Luke crossed his arms, looking uncomfortable. "You heard me. Lord Vader has been kidnapped—in this sector. I would have hoped the famed Axxilan antipirate fleet would have an inkling to his whereabouts."</p><p>Piett's face was still doing its most ardent impression of a gooberfish.</p><p>"W— I—" he tried to say, stuttering. Staring at Luke, who was now staring back with a raised eyebrow and a slightly... loathe as he was to use the word on a person he respected, <em>insane</em> expression, eyes wide enough he could see the white around the blue. "Lord Vader has been kidnapped."</p><p>Stars.</p><p>Kriff.</p><p>
  <em>What—</em>
</p><p>No wonder Lars was losing it.</p><p>"Yes," Luke said, turning his attention back to the monitor. He whipped a datachip out of his pocket and loaded all the data onto that—muttering rapidly under his breath as he did. Piett wasn't sure who he was even talking to. "Several kidnappings in Axxilan space—he couldn't have been captured by anything smaller than a cruiser which rules out..."</p><p>His hand hovered over the screen, fingers making little swishing motions as he mentally crossed off each file that was impossible—too far from the Hydian Way, too busy, too loyal to the Empire, not enough resources... Piett watched in awe as he worked, a glazed look in his eye; he looked almost... distracted as he dismissed a planet that Piett would've thought would be an ideal place for kidnapping pirates to take a dark lord of the Sith, then another one, then another one—</p><p>"Luke." Piett stepped forwards, and wrapped a hand round his wrist. "Calm down."</p><p>Luke shook off the hand and turned to glare at Piett, his brow furrowing deeply. The light off the monitor cast the contours of his face in sharp, unnerving relief. "What?"</p><p>"Calm down," Piett said, reasserting his grip and pulling Luke away from the monitor.</p><p>"How am I supposed to be <em>calm</em>, Captain?" Luke spat. "I know you think I have been unreasonable, that I have been overreacting or not doing things the proper way, but <em>this is</em> <em>not a proper situation.</em> My f— lord is <em>gone</em>. Something, <em>someone</em>, was more powerful than him, was able to overpower him, and now he is <em>gone</em> and we are the only hope for finding him!"</p><p>That glazed look in his eyes returned and he turned back to the monitor. This time, he didn't feverishly scroll through more reports, more possibilities. He just leaned against it, head bowed, slightly-longer-than-regulation hair falling in his face, and Piett... Piett noticed a single, glittering tear drop from his nose to the screen.</p><p>Then he lifted his head again, and his eyes were dry. But Luke Lars had never looked <em>this</em> young.</p><p>"We are not his only hope," Piett tried. He was not good at dealing with young people. Dealing with Lucus had only proven that. "He is the <em>Supreme Commander of the Imperial Forces</em>—there must be search parties out looking for him, teams and teams of dedicated hunters tracking him down. Stars, he will most likely be able to escape himself, if those stories about his arcane powers are all they're trumped up to be—"</p><p>"They are," Luke confirmed stiffly. "You should know this, Captain. You've witnessed it."</p><p>Piett smiled faintly. "And I know the true story of the great <em>Hondo Ohnaka</em>, and who, exactly, <em>Nikrat</em> is based on," he said softly. "But that does not mean that Lucus's comics are reliable sources of history."</p><p>Luke had to laugh at that. "I don't know what you're talking about. Tarkin was every bit as much of a piece of work as Nikrat. I wasn't <em>happy</em> when he died on the Death Star... but it wasn't like I was <em>unhappy</em> either."</p><p>"Point taken," Piett had to concede.</p><p>"And you should really call him Luc, if that's what he prefers," Luke said softly.</p><p>Piett snorted. "And get the two of you mixed up?"</p><p>Luke had to laugh. "When I'm not around, Captain. He's a good kid—and you'll be a good uncle, if you try a little harder."</p><p>"I am <em>trying</em>—" Whatever he was about to say, to defend himself with, he swallowed it. Alright. Alright. "Anyway. There are all sorts of people who must be looking for Lord Vader. He—"</p><p>"His disappearance is a secret," Luke said, voice growing darker and darker and darker with every word. "Nobody but the Emperor and I—and now you—know that <em>he never showed up on Mustafar for his Sith retreat</em> after he took a trip in this area of space. He's <em>missing</em>, and nobody knows, and if he was able to he would've made his way back to me— to the fleet, before now. But he hasn't. And Palpatine doesn't want to make a <em>fuss</em> about his disappearance, or so he says; he gave me credits for the search but keeps telling me to return to Imperial Centre so we can <em>ease the transition</em> and <em>deal with the fallout</em> and <em>come to terms with this</em> and he's <em>not</em> dead, he's not dead, I know it!"</p><p>Piett blinked. "The Emperor... isn't sending out his own search parties?" Vader was his enforcer, his most loyal servant, his greatest ally...</p><p>"He says he thinks he's lost. That his foresight—" Luke bit his tongue. "He's certain there's no way we're getting him back, and that I should think of the future, instead."</p><p>"The future?" A future without Lord Vader? Piett... didn't know what that would look like; he was loyal to the Empire, certainly, and Lord Vader as the face and fist of it, but the Emperor himself... well, he was not inclined to treason, but…</p><p><em>Ease the transition</em>. What did <em>that</em> mean?</p><p>Luke nodded. Then he flexed his hands on the monitor, pushed himself back upright, and fixed reddening eyes on the blue light of the files. "He has given me leave to search for my lord for as long as I wish. I have to keep going. It... it may be <em>disrespectful</em> of me to disobey his wishes so clearly, but—"</p><p>"I understand," Piett said.</p><p>Luke blinked. "You... do?"</p><p>"Yes. I understand why you wish to find Lord Vader so urgently." Piett didn't know where the words were coming from, where this... <em>solidarity</em> originated from, but he was certain of it. And looking at Luke...</p><p>Well. He may not be a stellar uncle, despite what Luke seemed to think of him, but he couldn't deny the not-quite-paternal urge he was overwhelmed with when he saw this stressed, struggling boy was a familial one—one that he'd felt when he'd seen Lucus, <em>Luc</em>, trip on the walkways a few days ago and nearly gone over the edge.</p><p>He put a hand on Luke's shoulder. The muscles were knotted and tensed so tightly they seemed to vibrate under his hand, but he gripped firmly and they seemed to... relax, minutely.</p><p>"You are exhausted, on edge and alone," Piett said to him. "I do not know how long you have been desperately searching for Lord Vader, and I do not know what you have done—how many laws you may have broken, or run-ins with authority you may have had."</p><p>Luke shrugged. "Only a couple of local gangs."</p><p>
  <em>Only a couple of—</em>
</p><p>Piett bit it back. "Yes. Well. You seemed to dismiss some perfectly viable options for where Lord Vader might be earlier, so I would suggest your mind is not as keen as it usually is." Luke frowned, opened his mouth, then closed it again with... not contrition, but almost regret. And amusement, he noted, bristling. "Return home with me."</p><p>"Home?" Luke asked sceptically.</p><p>Piett sighed. "Yes. My sister's home. Aurelia already offered you a place to stay, here; they have one spare room but two spare beds, and I only occupy one of them."</p><p>"You're not big enough to warrant two."</p><p>"And neither are you." Piett took the humour with good grace. "You can stay—I know she will not mind, and Luc certainly likes you. Stay a night, and then tomorrow morning, once we have both received some much needed sleep, we will be able to investigate all our options in a far more logical manner."</p><p>Luke took a breath. "The files—"</p><p>"That datachip should be able to hold them all. We can download the ones we need, and examine them later."</p><p>"And if it turns out that we left some behind that we needed? That we need access to the records again?" Luke was trembling. Piett sighed, and tried to... grip his shoulder tighter, or something along those lines. He didn't know; he was an officer, not a babysitter. "Captain, if we—"</p><p>"<em>If we must</em>," Piett interrupted, "we can... return, tomorrow. If you think your breaking and entering skills are up to the challenge."</p><p>Luke's lips curled into a wry smile that Piett was fervently glad he didn't know the background to.</p><p>"Alright, Captain," he said. "Let's... let's return to your sister's. She has a lovely home, anyway."</p><p>"She does." Piett was suddenly hit with a wave of guilt that he'd ever resented having to spend time there. She was his sister. She wanted him to feel a part of the family, to fit in. He should not be so dismissive of that.</p><p>Though, on that topic, he had to note, "This is not how I anticipated my holiday would go." His chuckle did not at all disguise his strained tone.</p><p>Luke's eyelids looked like they were already dropping closed. Stars, Piett hoped the boy could stay awake until they got out of here. Piett was no expert on sneaking around official government buildings just before dawn; they'd get caught and tossed into the brig before anyone could ever find a way to help them.</p><p>Piett just nodded. Sharply.</p><p>"Let's go, then," he said pointedly, and Luke had the nerve to smile faintly at him.</p><p>"I like you, Captain," he said as they walked out. "And I can see why my father likes you too."</p><p>Piett had no idea who Luke's father was, or why he'd be relevant—perhaps he was an officer on the <em>Executor</em>, or elsewhere in Death Squadron. That would make sense; no one got to be <em>Lord Vader's</em> personal aide at the fresh age of eighteen without some form of nepotism. Asking Luke about it was on the tip of his tongue, but maybe later—now did not seem like an ideal time to pry into Luke's privacy, not when he was clearly upset.</p><p>"I like you too, Luke," was all he said in return. What else was he supposed to say? "And please."</p><p>He grimaced. Automatically reached up to straighten his cap; but of course, he wasn't wearing a cap. He wasn't in uniform.</p><p>"Just... call me Firmus."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Plot</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Piett woke Aurelia briefly—she was fast asleep when they entered—to ask if it was alright that Luke took her up on her offer after all. Her reply was "Gahgugh," which Piett translated to mean "Yes."</p>
<p>He wandered around for a while trying to find the cupboard she kept the bedding in and quite literally stumbled into it when in the dim light, he tripped over a shirt on the floor—a closer inspection revealed it was probably Luc's; he couldn't see either Aurelia or Carina wearing something that said <em>Moon Jockeys</em> on it—and barrelled into a door that swung upon when he ricocheted back, and lo and behold. There they were.</p>
<p>And there was a bruise on Piett's chin, but that was irrelevant. He gathered up the sheets, dug a spare pair of pyjamas out of his belongings, and grabbed a spare pillow.</p>
<p>He had hoped that Luke would've already put aside his datachips and datapads and maybe even <em>removed his boots</em> (they... weren't exactly clean) but no; the boy was sitting cross-legged, his back against the foot of the spare bed, and the light from a datapad lit the bags under his eyes clearly.</p>
<p>"I have bedding," Piett offered, dumping the sheets onto the mattress. Luke nodded absently, still swiping through the information.</p>
<p>Piett sighed. "Are you quite sure now is the time to be doing this? The intention of coming back here was that you get some sleep."</p>
<p>"Cap— Firmus," Luke said, gaze fixed on his datapad. He frowned, and tapped the screen a few times; the holoprojector built into the back of it projected a blue map of Axxila, and the D'Astan sector. "These reports show that there was an altercation between an Imperial shuttle—whose codes I recognise; I <em>know</em> that was Lord Vader—here." A spot of red appeared on the holo, about halfway along the hyperlane between Axxila and Vandyne. "The ship was disabled, found floating dead in space, most people remaining dead or dying. The attacking ships were long gone, as was any of the pilots' potential cargo. However, they were short range starfighters—they didn't have the fuel capabilities for more than three short jumps. They'd need a refuelling station somewhere, or a place where they can join with a carrier and their transport could be unloaded."</p>
<p>"Then the attack was planned," Piett noticed. "Not necessarily on Lord Vader, but they no doubt laid in wait along that corridor of the Axxila-Tangrene hyperlane for ships to come by."</p>
<p>Luke frowned. "Yes, but <em>Imperial ships</em>? I can't imagine any pirates wanting to pick more of a fight than they needed to. This feels premeditated. And the fact that there was nothing about it in Imperial records, even when I looked..." He didn't finish the thought.</p>
<p>"Pirates are not known for their organisational skills. Or good ideas."</p>
<p>"I'd think they were smart enough not to capture Lord Vader once they realised who they were fighting. And if they succeeded... that's evidence enough. This was planned." Luke looked up then, and despite the bleariness of the late (or early) hour, his gaze was sharp and steady. "Or do you think that ordinary pirates would be capable of kidnapping <em>Lord Darth Vader</em> without specialised equipment, or even preparations?"</p>
<p>Piett had to concede the point there. "So, they lay in wait for him?"</p>
<p>"They must have. And to find him," Luke zoomed out on the map slightly; Piett was suddenly hyperaware of how many tiny blue dots there were—how many <em>planets</em>—"we need to find their base."</p>
<p>Piett swallowed. "You just said that it would be a <em>refuelling station</em>, if that, not a base."</p>
<p>"Yes." Luke frowned. "But you have more experience hunting pirates than I do, Firmus—if they did use a carrier, is that likely?"</p>
<p>Piett thought about it for a moment.</p>
<p>"Not many large scale criminal operations have the resources to maintain a carrier," he admitted. "And the ones that do—Crimson Dawn, Black Sun—won't want to pick a fight with the Empire. There's only..."</p>
<p>From the look on Luke's face, he knew it as well as he did.</p>
<p>"The Rebels," he said.</p>
<p>Piett nodded. "The Rebels."</p>
<p>"It can't be. They wouldn't..." Luke's face contorted in several ways—first in confusion, then betrayal, then understanding and denial and exhaustion. He let out a breath. "They would."</p>
<p>Piett decided not to think too hard on <em>that</em>. "Indeed."</p>
<p>"We're never finding him." Luke slumped back against the foot of the bed, tilted his head back and closed his eyes. For a moment he was so still, only the rise and fall of his chest betraying that he was still <em>alive</em>, that Piett thought he'd dropped hard and fast into sleep the moment his eyelids shut.</p>
<p>But then he opened his eyes to fixate on the ceiling, opened his mouth, and said, "Lord Vader couldn't find the Rebels' base. They could be anywhere in the galaxy. We've got no hope."</p>
<p>"It will be impossible for just the two of us to find a base, correct," Piett said. Something in him stirred at seeing Luke so... raw. That poor boy. "But there is a ray of hope."</p>
<p>Luke, very slowly, turned his gaze to fix on Piett.</p>
<p>Piett gave in to what was clearly going to be a dawn strategising session, so he just fluffed up one of his pillows and perched on top of it on the floor next to Luke, considering the map. "Lord Vader is a legend for how powerful he is, his prowess in battle. I highly doubt, if the Rebels have any sense of self-preservation—which, admittedly, their occupation as Rebels may speak against—"</p>
<p>Luke snorted with laughter.</p>
<p>Piett felt oddly vindicated, and continued: "They will have taken him to their main base."</p>
<p>After a moment, realisation dawned.</p>
<p>"It'd be like capturing a krayt dragon and taking him back to the homestead," he said.</p>
<p>"Uh... yes." Piett decided not to ask. "My guess is that they'd have another, smaller outpost, manned by only the most trusted Rebels. And they wouldn't want to travel far for that at all—the longer they travel in hyperspace, the more time they spend in a small space with a dark lord of the Sith, without significant Rebel backup."</p>
<p>"So..." Luke said. "We have to find their outpost?"</p>
<p>"Yes."</p>
<p>Luke took a deep breath.</p>
<p>"Alright," he said. "Alright. Let's find their base."</p>
<p>"Whatever other reports you swiped from the fleet's database could come in useful here," Piett said, reaching for Luke's datapad. Luke glanced at him for a second, but didn't object. "If they have reports of new ships, or large ships capable of having holding cells which are escorted by starfighters, entering local systems, then that is something we ought to take note of."</p>
<p>"The fleet doesn't have eyes everywhere, though. And the Rebels are known to use uninhabited planets for their bases."</p>
<p>"For their <em>bases</em>. Their outposts are just as often on inhabited planets—the things worth spying on—and furthermore, this is a highly industrial sector. There are few uninhabited planets left nearby. And they would need access to the trade lanes."</p>
<p>Luke nodded. "That makes sense, I suppose."</p>
<p>"So let's look at our options," Piett said, turning his gaze back to the datapad. He didn't yawn. He'd gone far longer without sleep while on the <em>Executor</em>, though it was clear that Luke's exhaustion meant that he'd had no such experience, despite his position directly under Lord Vader. Odd, but possible, he supposed. "Axxila is here, in the D'Astan sector. There are a number of populated planets around here—"</p>
<p>"You said that the area was pretty industrialised," Luke offered.</p>
<p>"Yes. I assume you knew that before you came here."</p>
<p>"I researched Axxila when I met you, but coming here I figured I'd research each planet I had to go to as we went."</p>
<p>Piett sighed. "Right. Well, if we root through the reports you've got there"—he gestured to the datachips lined up; Luke opened one of the files next to the map on the datapad and blue Aurebesh text scrolled in midair—"we ought to be able to narrow down the areas where they would've been. Can you sort through the data files for me?"</p>
<p>Luke smirked a little. "I'm an aide," he said. "It wasn't exactly my calling, but I've got really good at it since working under Lord Vader."</p>
<p>The man was a harsh taskmaster indeed. Piett did not envy Luke <em>that</em> baptism by fire.</p>
<p>"What was your calling then?" Piett asked softly as Luke worked, skimming and sorting through the files with a frown on his face.</p>
<p>He got a distracted answer: "Piloting. I always wanted to fly, always, when I was a kid on Tatooine. No way anyone's getting off that rock without their own ship or joining the Imperial military—used to think I'd join the navy, learn to pilot a TIE, and join the war that way."</p>
<p>"You wanted to fight the Rebels even as a kid?" Piett found himself smiling at the spirit... but frowning at the thought. If Luke, as a <em>child</em>, had already been so intense...</p>
<p>"I wanted to see the stars." Luke shrugged. "If I could've got there by joining a Rebel academy and flying for the Rebellion, I would've gone there just as quickly. Not much of anything back on Tatooine, except apathy."</p>
<p>His right hand... flexed, for a moment, then fisted. "Loads of that."</p>
<p>"I... understand." Piett could well remember his family's—even Aurelia's, though she was still sceptical and supportive today—surprise when he'd wanted to join the antipirate fleet. When he'd wanted to try to make a difference when he couldn't even make a dent. Apathy was a common pitfall.</p>
<p>"My parents objected to me joining the antipirate fleet for a long time," he continued quietly. "They... didn't see the point. Thought it was useless. Crime rules Axxila. Even my father used to use some ties to local brigands to smuggle or cheat the system sometimes. They didn't want me dying for something I would never be able to change."</p>
<p>Luke's lips quirked upwards. "You could almost say that by resisting crime on Axxila, you were rebelling against the order of things."</p>
<p>Piett clenched his jaw, un... <em>unnerved</em> by Luke's quiet amusement. "Yes. One could say that. I will resist criminals, wherever I find them, be they pirates or terrorist Rebels."</p>
<p>"One could also say that criminals are defined by the laws of the system."</p>
<p>Piett glared. "You're sounding suspiciously like a Rebel sympathiser." He was regretting opening up already. Stars, he wished he was back on the Lady. There was none of this wishy washy nonsense there.</p>
<p>"My apologies, Firmus. Apathy teaches you to be the devil's advocate—but I always think it's important to be aware of a bigger picture."</p>
<p>
  <em>Your views on the Death Star make that perfectly clear.</em>
</p>
<p>Piett let out a deep breath. "I suppose I cannot fault you for that." A beat of silence. "You... said that you wanted to become a pilot. How did you become Lord Vader's aide?"</p>
<p>Luke shrugged, but Piett supposed it was a painful topic for him when he said, "My aunt and uncle... my family..." He shut his mouth for a moment, unsure what to say."My father insisted it was for my own good. I'm inclined to listen to him."</p>
<p>"Well, you're working for Lord Vader."</p>
<p>Luke cut him a glance, at that. "Is that a confirmation or a contradiction?"</p>
<p>Working for Vader was an honour. It was as high as any military career could go. But, as the rumours claimed, it was often a short-lived one.</p>
<p>But not for Luke Lars.</p>
<p>"For anyone else, the answer would be clear. For you," Piett said, "less so."</p>
<p>Luke smiled. "And for you, Firmus."</p>
<p>Then, before Piett could even try to unpack that statement, he turned back to the datapad, frowning. "I haven't gone through all of these, by any means, but there's a few here that have reported ships that could fit such a criteria passing through, or would be ideal stops for bases."</p>
<p>"The first one?"</p>
<p>"Celanon," Luke said, gesturing to the map. "It's a clean jump from Axxila, a pretty busy planet, lots of places to hide."</p>
<p>"It's a clean jump from Celanon to the Hydian Way, too," Piett said. "The Celanon Spur connects a lot of planets to Axxila—and if they went to Celanon itself, then they are long gone. It's too busy, too much traffic, to risk setting up a permanent, <em>secret</em> outpost, so if they did head there then they joined a ship heading down the Hydian Way and are probably on the other side of the galaxy by now. Either way, that planet won't be a viable one to pursue."</p>
<p>Luke looked crestfallen at the words—at the knowledge that there was still a good chance Lord Vader had headed down there, and that there was no way they could save him if he had—but dutifully moved on to the next.</p>
<p>"There's a lot of worlds around here which could be viable places for pirates to set up shop," he said warily.</p>
<p>"It's the cause of all our troubles with them. What reports have you got on the list?"</p>
<p>Luke sighed. "If not Celanon, there's Ord Cestus."</p>
<p>Piett nodded. "That's a favourite of pirates—and Rebels, by extension—certainly."</p>
<p>"Arid deserts, mountains, volcanic craters—I can see why they'd want to put the outpost there. And it's very nearby."</p>
<p>"We can put it on the list of places to consider. Where else have you got?"</p>
<p>Luke glanced at the datapad. "Nez Peron, Thesme, Abafar..."</p>
<p>"Also viable."</p>
<p>Luke looked physically exhausted the longer the list got. "Dathomir, though that's unlikely..."</p>
<p>"Why is that unlikely?" Piett had heard rumours about... <em>that area</em> of space, but—</p>
<p>"Trust me. It doesn't sound like a fun place, from what I've heard of it. Lord Vader was planning on heading there briefly on his mission, anyway, for... research purposes." Luke swallowed, and kept reading. "Vandyne, Sorrus, anything along the Feswe corridor, really..." He stopped, staring at the map, his mouth dropping open.</p>
<p>Piett didn't notice. "Vandyne, from the position vectors they'd likely have been taking, and what I've read of the reports"—he'd skimmed a few as Luke nominated them—"is unlikely. Not impossible, but more unlikely than the others. we don't have infinite time and resources for searching, so I'd recommend eliminating that from the list."</p>
<p>"Yes, sir," Luke said—almost absently. He was still staring at the map.</p>
<p>"Luke?" Piett asked.</p>
<p>Luke blinked. "A little east of the Feswe corridor... it would be a stretch," he said carefully, "but Yavin—and the moon, Yavin Four—is a system that..."</p>
<p>"<em>Yavin Four</em>?" Piett stared. "That's two sectors galactic east of us, and the place has been under Imperial observation since the Battle of Yavin."</p>
<p>"It was under observation—for a year and a half, as is standard. But the Empire doesn't have the resources to waste on observing moons that have long since passed in their importance, and the debris of the Death Star makes the observations themselves a... <em>difficult</em> undertaking. They pulled out a few months ago."</p>
<p>Of course Luke would know that. Piett still wanted to object, but it made sense that he would know that.</p>
<p>"I very much doubt," Piett said anyway, his tone cutting, "that the Rebels would be as foolhardy and suicidal and <em>reckless</em> as to return..."</p>
<p>He trailed off.</p>
<p>Rebels <em>were</em> foolhardy. They <em>were</em> suicidal. They <em>were</em> reckless.</p>
<p>But that wasn't what, somehow, started to convince him of this ridiculous idea.</p>
<p>It was the way that Luke fixed his gaze on the map and circled the system with one figure, the corners of his lips turned down in a faint frown. That look in his eyes... that intensity, the way he held himself...</p>
<p>"We need to go to Yavin," he said. "It may not be where they're keeping Lord Vader—but it's important. I'm certain of it."</p>
<p>Lord Vader had... special powers. Cynical or not, Piett couldn't deny that, and he couldn't deny that those strange feelings the man seemed to get so often had saved them all time and worked miracles more often than not.</p>
<p>Luke may not be two metres tall, he may not have breathing that struck terror into the hearts of millions, and he may not wield a bloody blade. But he shared that intensity—and that <em>focus</em>.</p>
<p>And Piett realised that maybe it wasn't nepotism that had got Luke his job. Nepotism didn't account for the fierce loyalty he clearly felt towards his commander—the kinship, the trust, the... <em>love</em>, almost.</p>
<p>Luke may not be Lord Vader, but he certainly seemed to share a trait of his or two.</p>
<p>Piett nodded. "Very well. I—"</p>
<p>That was when Luke's comm chimed.</p>
<p>It was... odd, seeing the change that almost immediately overcame Luke when he looked at the frequency he was being called from. His eyes blew wide, his face drained of colour, and he... <em>dithered</em> for a moment, staring at his comm like it was a serpent who'd just tried to bite him.</p>
<p>Then he threw himself to his feet, almost tripping over his own datapad, and knelt in the corner of the room, his comlink flat on his palm, head bowed.</p>
<p>It was most peculiar.</p>
<p>But everything made sense when, cradled in Luke's palm, the comlink spat out a blue holo of a robed figure, face lined in wrinkles... and Piett recognised him.</p>
<p><em>"Ah, young Lars,"</em> Emperor Sheev Palpatine, of the Galactic Empire, greeted. Piett stared. Luke was shaking slightly, the bags under his eyes incredibly pronounced, and Palpatine almost seemed to <em>smile</em> when he saw that. <em>"How... I must ask—how goes the search for my favoured lieutenant? I understand that you are reluctant to give up hope."</em></p>
<p>"W— I have some leads, Your Majesty," Luke stammered. Piett wondered why he was so insistent on the <em>I</em>, so insistent to turn the holocam on the comlink away from Piett, but was ultimately grateful for it, he supposed. "There are several planets I intend to visit, to see if I can find any trace of him there; I can send you the list if Your Majesty so desires."</p>
<p><em>"Luke..."</em> Piett jerked at the use of his first name, and so did Luke, though he scrambled to cover it up. <em>"An entire planet is a vast area to search, unless you have some greater method of locating him?"</em></p>
<p>Luke tensed, and said nothing for a moment. He wasn't subtle at all; it was clear he was hiding something, but Palpatine only smiled benevolently, <em>smugly</em>, at him in realisation.</p>
<p>"That does not mean I cannot try, Your Majesty," he said stiffly. "I have to try. Lord Vader deserves that."</p>
<p>Palpatine's lips twisted briefly—there, then gone, and he assumed his warm smile again. <em>"That he does, my boy. But I fear that you are only chasing shadows, and will get yourself injured or killed in a dead man's memory. He would not want that for you, would he?"</em></p>
<p>Luke said nothing.</p>
<p>But apparently the question wasn't rhetorical. <em>"Would he?"</em></p>
<p>"No," Luke got out. His voice cracked. "He wouldn't."</p>
<p>
  <em>"Then we are agreed."</em>
</p>
<p>"Your Majesty, I—"</p>
<p><em>"I will allow you to continue this search. I understand it is important to you that you exhaust all avenues before... moving on. I trust that you have sufficient funds to acquire the transportation you need?"</em> There was something <em>mocking</em> in that tone.</p>
<p>Luke gritted his teeth. "You gave me enough Imperial credits to buy the Mid Rim, Your Majesty."</p>
<p><em>Imperial credits</em>. Worthless out here. Luke knew that—and likely, the Emperor had known that too.</p>
<p><em>"Only the best for Lord Vader."</em> Luke's shoulders tensed. <em>"I will grant you a week. After that time, I will send a shuttle to Axxila to return you to Coruscant—my foresight informs me that Lord Vader is lost, and we must think about the future."</em></p>
<p>Piett couldn't be the only one who noticed the way Palpatine's eyes lingered on Luke's bowed, deferent head... almost hungrily.</p>
<p>"Of course, Your Majesty," Luke got out between shuddering breaths; for a moment, he seemed very, very small. "I look forward to seeing you again."</p>
<p>When the holo vanished, Luke sighed. He didn't meet Piett's eye.</p>
<p>Piett didn't force him to. "I have a ship," he said. "We can go to Yavin in the morning."</p>
<p>Luke just nodded. Stumbled over into bed, and was asleep before he hit the pillow.</p>
<p>He'd forgotten to change into the pyjamas Piett had fetched for him.</p>
<hr/>
<p>They... slept in quite late, the next morning. Piett usually woke up at 0600 sharp anyway, no matter how late he stayed up, but that was irrelevant when he'd <em>gone to sleep</em> at that time.</p>
<p>He slept until 0700 sharp instead.</p>
<p>Then he looked at Luke, still fast asleep, his brows still scrunched with stress even in unconsciousness, and decided... maybe he should let the poor boy sleep some more. Just... for Luke, he mused as his eyes drifted closed again. Only... for Luke... the boy... needed it...</p>
<p>They woke up at noon. Piett was vaguely mortified, especially at how <em>unconcerned</em> Aurelia was about it—she took one look at Luke, at the bags under his eyes, and tutted how he should've slept <em>more</em>—and the sure fire knowledge that she would tease him about finally loosening up on the sleep schedule later. But he worked through the mortification, packed his bags, and told her they were taking a short trip out of the system.</p>
<p>Aurelia glanced to Luke, chatting to Luc as he pulled his boots back on, and lowered her voice. "What is going on, Firmus? He comes in the middle of the night—"</p>
<p>Oh dear. Piett should've expected this. Luke's chaos and poor decision making were causing suspicion with everyone he interacted with, there would only be complications from this, if someone realised they'd broken into the headquarters last night that would be everyone's neck on the line; Imperials or no Imperials, the Empire was the <em>de jure</em> ruler and <em>de facto</em> nuisance or scapegoat on this planet—</p>
<p>"—and you immediately jump to help him? He charms Luc, sure. Charms me, sure. Charms <em>you</em>?" She poked him in the chest. Her nail was pointy; it hurt. "He's got some persuasion skills. And he looks like he's been through hell and back."</p>
<p>Piett wished he could say, <em>He hasn't</em>.</p>
<p>But he thought about Palpatine's possessive gaze, thought about the way Luke had glued himself to that monitor, the way he'd fallen into bed fully clothed.</p>
<p>That boy was terrified.</p>
<p>"He's the favoured aide of my superior," Piett said. Aurelia scoffed.</p>
<p>"If you're going to try to tell me that you're only doing this for <em>Lord Darth Vader</em>, I don't buy it. I know you—you've been away for years and barely called, but <em>I know you</em>. Your loyalty to the Empire is clearly strong, more— more than to Axxila or to us," her voice wobbled; Piett wished he could refute it, but... he couldn't. Duty came first. Always. "But would you go through hell for <em>Vader</em>?"</p>
<p><em>I would</em>. It was true. But he doubted Aurelia would believe him.</p>
<p>She tended to believe in family, in the local safety nets, over ideals or empires. And to her, Vader was the Empire.</p>
<p>Which was why it was so terrible that he'd vanished.</p>
<p>"No," she answered her own question. "That boy asked you for help—asking for your time—and you gave it. You can deal with him. And he can deal with Luc. You gave him your time and patience..." Her voice wobbled again. "Why is it so different with me and Luc?"</p>
<p>Piett shifted. He suddenly felt profoundly uncomfortable. "He's the favoured aide of my superior," he repeated. "I dealt with him often. I <em>know him</em>, and he's... he's my friend. Of course I was going to help him when he needed me the most."</p>
<p>Aurelia blinked at him, her grey eyes swimming.</p>
<p>He sighed. "I... am sorry that I've been so distant, this entire holiday," he got out. "I... didn't want to take a holiday; I knew that a break from the stress would only compound the stress, in the end. And I felt like I'd been away for so long, while you and Carina and Luc had started your unit and your life together. I never intended to intrude. And—"</p>
<p>"And you couldn't find a way to fit in."</p>
<p>"Not before I go back to the <em>Executor</em>."</p>
<p>"If you had to choose between the Empire and us, you'd always pick the Empire." She sounded tired.</p>
<p>Piett didn't want to lie to her. "I would." That was him. She knew that.</p>
<p>She smiled at him. "You do know that you don't <em>have</em> to choose?"</p>
<p>Piett didn't know how to respond to that. So he didn't.</p>
<p>Luke straightened up, Luc's face falling as he turned away, and shot Piett a quick, tired smile.</p>
<p>"Good luck, Firmus," Aurelia said, tossing him his jacket. "With whatever you're doing."</p>
<p>"I'll do my best to keep him out of trouble," Luke joked.</p>
<p>She laughed, at that. "Thank you. He needs it."</p>
<p>Piett huffed.</p>
<p>Luc frowned. "Where are you going?"</p>
<p>"To a system nearby," Luke said easily. "It's boring stuff—paperwork, and such. Your uncle's very kindly agreed to help me out with it; I was up all night stressing about this, but his help has been invaluable."</p>
<p>"Can I come?"</p>
<p>Aurelia smiled. "You want to go help them out with <em>paperwork</em>? You don't even do your homework on time."</p>
<p>Luc scowled. "I—"</p>
<p>"Have you finished it?"</p>
<p>He scuffed his foot against the carpet—yelped, when he stubbed his toe into his other foot. "No."</p>
<p>"We'll be back soon—I can give you more recs for comics when we do," Luke promised with a smile. "So long as you've done your homework by then."</p>
<p>Piett watched in awe as Luc looked between Luke and Aurelia, frowned... then scurried off to his bedroom. He didn't know what he was doing there—presumably it was not, actually, his homework—but at least he was out of the way...?</p>
<p>Aurelia shoved a coat into Piett's hands. "Come back safe, little brother." He rolled his eyes—he may be shorter, but <em>he was older</em>— "I don't know what you're doing out there, but your family needs you just as much as the Empire does."</p>
<p>Piett cut a glance to Luke, who was watching them both with a strangely melancholy look on his face before he looked away.</p>
<p>Piett clenched his fists in his coat. "Right now, I'm not so sure about that," he said, slipping it on around his shoulders. It was long, and dull, and hung around his knees like a folded tarpaulin, but it was warm. Luke was wearing what looked like a poncho. "But... we can talk about it later. The situation could change."</p>
<p>"Let's hope it does," Luke said sharply, then walked out the door.</p>
<p>Piett followed, and they took off in Piett's scrappy little ship less than an hour later. It was a small, rickety old thing, a holdover from his pirate hunting days—he hadn't used it since he joined the Imperial Navy—but it was… comforting to be behind the controls of it again.</p>
<p>"Set course for Yavin," Luke said, before finally caving to Piett's demand that he take the bunkroom in the back of the ship to get some more sleep.</p>
<hr/>
<p>It was a short hyperspace trip to Yavin, relatively—a few hours, though they had to switch hyperlanes several times. Piett found that the constant motion of the streaked stars was oddly soothing to watch, as he desperately, desperately tried to relax.</p>
<p>He couldn't.</p>
<p>Lord Vader was missing.</p>
<p>Lord Vader was <em>missing</em>.</p>
<p>Lord Vader was missing, and Luke Lars— well, Luke Lars seemed to have some of the same powers as him; the Force, Piett had sometimes heard him call it, an energy field that most thought was nothing but an archaic, esoteric religion. Lord Vader was missing, and the Emperor didn't want him found—wanted Luke Lars to attend him on Coruscant, instead.</p>
<p>Lord Vader was missing, and Aurelia wanted Piett to come home more often. Piett had barely been back to Axxila since he'd joined the Empire. His only visit, really, had been when Piett and Aurelia's parents had died in a pirate attack on their mother's place of work—a pirate attack Piett hadn't been there to stop. Luc had still been struggling to crawl.</p>
<p>The funeral had been a drab affair. It hadn't broken out in a fight, no matter how much Aurelia, not to mention their distant relatives, disagreed with Piett about... everything. It might've been better if it had, but instead any hopes of compromise died a slow, quiet death amidst the awkwardness, and he'd left with the distinct feeling that he was not welcome back.</p>
<p>It wasn't pleasant to think about.</p>
<p>Well, Piett was in luck. Because a thoroughly effective distraction chose to pop its head up then, and Piett may or may not have screamed.</p>
<p>And stared in horror.</p>
<p>Because—</p>
<p>"Uncle Firmus?"</p>
<p>Lucus was standing in the cockpit.</p>
<p><em>Lucus was standing in the cockpit</em>.</p>
<p>"What—"</p>
<p>The boy beamed up at him, his mop of brown hair swishing over his forehead. His gaze slid right past Piett's horrified face to the swirling stars beyond the viewport; his mouth dropped open. "<em>Cool</em>."</p>
<p>"Lucus," Piett snapped, suddenly, when the boy had the nerve to try to climb into the pilot's chair and toggle some of the controls. "What are you doing here?"</p>
<p>The boy had the nerve to pout. "I wanted to spend time with you."</p>
<p>"I find that doubtful." The words were out before he could stop them. "Perhaps you wanted to spend time with Luke. <em>Luke!</em>" He turned towards the bulk of the ship, to shout on him. "I need some help!"</p>
<p>"I heard you talking last night," Luc said matter-of-factly. "You were talking about pirates!"</p>
<p><em>Was I?</em> For a short while, perhaps, they had been. And perhaps Luc had, conveniently enough, only heard the stuff he was interested in hearing.</p>
<p>Pirates.</p>
<p>Great.</p>
<p>Piett took a moment to wonder if his nephew had brought that stupid comic of his with him.</p>
<p>"Firmus? What is it?" Luke stumbled into the cockpit, stilling and sighing when he clapped eyes on the nine year old aberration therein. "Luc. What are you—"</p>
<p>"I want to meet pirates with you."</p>
<p>Luke made a sound that might have been a laugh, might have been a sob.</p>
<p>Conveniently, that was around the time they reverted to realspace—the gas giant of Yavin loomed before them, and Piett was distracted from Luc to just... stare. They could already see some of the debris that drifted farther out in the system, like a massive net of litter, though Piett was fairly sure it would be more concentrated around the moon.</p>
<p>It was. They soared a little closer, Luke staring around at the place, to see the jade sphere of the jungle moon wrapped in spools of metal shards—concentric rings in its orbit.</p>
<p>"You weren't stationed on the Death Star were you, Firmus?" Luke murmured.</p>
<p>Piett cut him a look. "No. Were you?"</p>
<p>"I was already working for Lord Vader. I was transferred back to the <em>Devastator</em> before the Battle of Yavin truly commenced, but..."</p>
<p>"What actually happened on board?"</p>
<p>Piett swallowed the moment he asked. <em>What </em>actually<em> happened.</em> It was borderline treason to suggest that he doubted the Empire's narration of events... but he doubted that Luke, from their previous discussion about the Death Star, would mind.</p>
<p>Indeed, he just teased, "What does the official story say? It's unlikely that I know any more than it."</p>
<p>"Leia Organa destroyed it. She escaped from her cell within hours of first being incarcerated and escaped, taking a shuttle that was tracked and luring the Death Star to Yavin."</p>
<p>Piett was suddenly very aware of Luc in the cockpit, dark blue eyes fixed on them both, and shut his mouth.</p>
<p>"Get in the back," he told the boy. "Now."</p>
<p>Luc just gave him a stubborn look and wriggled up to perch on the edge of the console. The light of a distant, distant shooting star flashed over his head, behind him in the viewport.</p>
<p>Luke shrugged. "Then the official story is as accurate as anything I know."</p>
<p>Piett didn't respond to that—he felt like there was more to it than that, but he couldn't exactly pry further when there were little eyes staring at him with <em>far</em> too much curiosity as it was.</p>
<p>"Luc, get in the back," he reiterated. Luke jerked upwards, an objection apparently on his lips, then he laughed silently when he saw Piett glaring at Luc again. "<em>Now</em>."</p>
<p>He glanced up at the viewport again; they were curving around Yavin, now, and the jungle moon loomed until it occupied most of the view.</p>
<p>Luc huffed, glared, but—when Piett glared back—finally conceded.</p>
<p>It was only then that he realised Luke had stopped laughing abruptly.</p>
<p>He was staring at the jungle moon with... an intense expression on his face, focus twisting it into something slightly—almost—intimidating. He'd gone pale.</p>
<p>"He's not here," Luke said.</p>
<p>Piett frowned. "What? What do you mean?" They hadn't even done any rudimentary scans, hadn't done <em>anything</em> to search for humanoid life forms or a large settlement—</p>
<p>"Lord Vader isn't here. I know he's not."</p>
<p>Piett sighed, and ran a scan surreptitiously anyway. It pinged— "There's what looks like a small outpost in and around the previous Rebel base. The Massassi Temple." That was worth investigating, if nothing else—if Rebels had tried to sneak back to Yavin after the Imperials had stopped inspecting it, if only to set up a small outpost, that was something the Empire should—</p>
<p>"Perhaps there is." Luke turned away. "But my— my lord isn't here."</p>
<p>And Piett thought of how similar Luke and Vader could be, when they acted strangely; thought of how the two of them seemed to know things with a certainty that defied common sense, and let the disappointment settle in his gut.</p>
<p>Lord Vader, he knew, was not here.</p>
<p>The outpost could wait. They had a more important job to handle.</p>
<p>"Very well," he said. "We can search another world on the list. You still have a week before the Emperor demands you return; I am sure—"</p>
<p>"Look."</p>
<p>Piett jumped at the voice, spinning round; there was Luc, in the doorway again, certainly <em>not</em> in the back like he'd told him to be. Piett grumbled under his breath, wondering why Aurelia and Carina had bothered to have a son at all, if he caused this much trouble on the regular basis, and strode forwards to tell that boy exactly what he thought of sneaking onto other people's ships and endangering both himself <em>and</em> their mission by insisting on accompanying him, when—</p>
<p>"Look at what, Luc?" Luke asked, frowning. "Is that..." His face fell. "<em>Firmus</em>. There's a ship coming."</p>
<p>"A ship...?" Piett turned, two strides away from Luc, to gape. Sure enough, there <em>was</em> a ship exiting the green knots of the jungle moon. It looped in space a few times before turning to head towards them, probably calculating their hyperspace jump.</p>
<p>"That's Mama's ship," Luc said proudly.</p>
<p>Luke raised his eyebrows. "Aurelia must have a very nice ship back home, then. That's a VCX-100 light freighter."</p>
<p>"Mama has a very nice ship, for her job," Luc said proudly.</p>
<p>"Working for a tax office...?"</p>
<p>"No," Piett said. "That's not Aurelia's ship." He understood now.</p>
<p>"What..." He took a breath. He knew that Aurelia called her ship—a small, clunky thing, that barely held together enough to hold one person in atmo, let alone through hyperspace—the <em>Clanker</em>. But Carina... she'd had a different name for her ship, a personal transport that was apparently nice enough she could use it for work; Aurelia had raved to him about it, years ago, when she was young and newly in love and he was trying to track down a criminal warlord. "What's that ship called, Luc?"</p>
<p>"The <em>Appenza</em>," Luc said proudly. Of course. He probably had every detail memorised about his mothers' ships; probably gushed about them until his mothers themselves were sick of it.</p>
<p>"I see." And that <em>did</em>, now that Piett examined it, look like a familiar ship, indeed. "Luke, check the readouts. What signature is that ship transmitting?"</p>
<p>Luke did so.</p>
<p>And he confirmed grimly, "The <em>Appenza</em>." He glanced up at Piett. "Your sister said her wife was at work last night—that was why she wasn't at dinner. Do you know <em>where</em> she was working?"</p>
<p>Piett grimaced. This... no.</p>
<p>Wait.</p>
<p>"She said," he realised, "she was dealing with a kidnapping case."</p>
<p>Luke clenched his jaw. Piett shifted where he stood.</p>
<p>"Do you know the details?" Luke asked.</p>
<p>It was, of course, possible that Carina was dealing with the same kidnapping case as they were. That she'd come here for answers, just like they had. But she'd flown out of the outpost on Yavin IV perfectly unmolested—and while they didn't <em>know</em> that those at the outpost were Rebels, Piett doubted that any loyal Imperial citizens would ever want to associate with this system. Not when there were a number of other perfectly usable systems around here.</p>
<p>This was wildly incriminating.</p>
<p>This would break his sister's heart if she found out.</p>
<p>Or—perhaps she already knew.</p>
<p>Perhaps she already knew, and it would break her heart if Piett revealed the truth to the Imperial authorities and had them both face the consequences for this… implication.</p>
<p>"No," he said. "I do not. But... I believe it would be prudent of us to find out." He strode away from Luc, towards the console again. Where was that switch, where was that switch...</p>
<p>"She's powering up lightspeed engines!" Luke called.</p>
<p>Piett found the switch—or rather, the toggle. He yanked the ship around, hard enough that Luke had to grab a seat to stay upright and Luc bounced onto the floor like he was made of rubber, and pulled it.</p>
<p>A tiny silver flicker of light shot between them and her—then she was gone.</p>
<p>"She's jumped," Luke said grimly.</p>
<p>Piett hit a few buttons. Flicked a few switches. A screen came up, showing them a simplistic, colour-coded map of the Yavin system; when he zoomed out of the image, he saw a blinking orange light, shooting past the Tertiary Feswe system.</p>
<p>That trail had been blazed by Rebels in their escape from Yavin in the wake of the battle. Only the higher ups of the Imperial Navy should know about those starlanes... except the Rebels themselves.</p>
<p>"That was a tracker," Piett said grimly. Luke glanced at the map himself; paled. He understood what that meant.</p>
<p>If Carina knew about those hyperlanes—hyperlanes that only Rebels or the heights of Imperial brass should know about...</p>
<p>"Where is she headed? Where would she go? Firmus, your sister-in-l—"</p>
<p>"I know. And I don't know. But... although we will need to wait to find out for sure..."</p>
<p>He brushed his hand over the screen, completely focused on the task at hand, Luc and Luke faded concerns at his back. This was what he was good at; this was what he'd built his long-unused ship for, all those years ago.</p>
<p>This was his idea of a holiday.</p>
<p>Though ideally it wouldn't involve betraying his family to the Empire while he was at it.</p>
<p>He observed the trajectory of her flight and pursed his lips. The outpost on Yavin was forgotten; that was something to be considered at a later date.</p>
<p>"I believe she is headed back to Axxila."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>All of the geography around Axxilan space was researched painstakingly; I owe Wookieepedia and various Star Wars maps my life.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Father</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She was.</p><p>They jumped to hyperspace shortly after her. This time, Piett stayed in the cockpit and so did Luke; Luc, of course, banished to Piett's bunk where he was sulking and <em>thinking about what he'd done</em>. Piett barely blinked, barely let the screen out of his sight, barely dared to—Carina had never been his closest friend or confidante, he'd never got the impression that she adored him, but he respected her. She respected him.</p><p>Was... was she a Rebel?</p><p>What did this mean?</p><p>If Luke <em>did</em> have the same strange feelings Lord Vader so often experienced, why had they led them to Yavin?</p><p>What was going on?</p><p>They adjusted their course every so often to keep following her, so they didn't get lost in a few snarls and snags of hyperspace, but her course was, consistently, headed towards Axxila. Perhaps she was going home. Perhaps she was going to walk in on Aurelia panicking because Luc had vanished and panic herself, and then they would have to walk inside with Luke in tow and... explain everything.</p><p>Confront her about everything.</p><p>That would be an unpleasant conversation.</p><p>But, when she <em>did</em> revert to realspace above Axxila's atmosphere, and they reverted just behind her—distant enough to go unnoticed, but keeping a sharp eye on her tracker on the monitor—she did not fly for the part of the planet that was their home. Piett should know. She was flying for the works, the industrial sector.</p><p>The shipyards, perhaps. Perhaps the <em>Appenza</em> needed some work done. Or perhaps...</p><p>They tracked her to a warehouse.</p><p>It was hardly distinguishable from all the other warehouses around it, in this district of the planet: grimy, full of dirt... but strangely abandoned. Nothing was ever abandoned on this planet, there simply wasn't the space to allow perfectly good estate to languish and sit there, unused. But judging by the colour and thickness of the grime, and the lack of... well, cleanliness. Worker safety regulations, what few were actually enforced on Axxila. Anything that betrayed <em>usage</em>...</p><p>The lack of it all was suspicious.</p><p>Piett set down his ship on a landing strip not far from where she landed hers; the spaces in the rooms of the warehouse, stacked high with crates Piett suspected would actually be empty, served as temporary hangars for now. A hissed, hushed argument kept Luc inside—and, when Piett wasn't satisfied by that despite Luke's apparent trust of devilish nine year olds, a lock on the door did.</p><p>"Where is she?" Piett murmured to Luke as they strapped blasters to their hips and made to descend the ramp, glancing around.</p><p>Luke got a funny look on his face, distant, as he said, "Close. She wouldn't go far, and she was clearly skilled enough to know she was being followed—"</p><p>He was cut off by a shot.</p><p>Luke dived to the side almost instantly, with an agility more often seen in troopers than officers of the Imperial Navy; Piett was almost impressed. He ducked behind the crates instinctively and Piett crouched behind him, peering above them—</p><p>Then yanked his head back down when a shot nearly gave him a bald patch.</p><p>"Way to be <em>subtle</em>," a musical Core accent said—not clipped enough to be Coruscanti; Alderaanian. He knew who that was. "Who are you, and why were you at Yavin Four?" He heard a click, and a clatter; he wondered what other weapons or explosives she might have on her, on her familiar territory, trained on them.</p><p>For a moment, he wondered if the crates were truly so empty after all.</p><p>There was another shot. That was definitely a warning shot; it intentionally went clean over their heads and the crates weren't thick enough to provide truly <em>decent</em> cover, if worst came to the worst. She was intimidating them.</p><p>"Answer me, or I'll pock your little ship with so many blaster holes she'll never peg a tracker on anyone ever again."</p><p>Piett gritted his teeth, then. Threats... grandstanding... he had grown soft on the bridge of a Star Destroyer, he realised.</p><p>He had not missed this.</p><p>"I would advise against it, Carina," he said. His voice didn't shake; Luke shot him a look, and Piett wondered which voice he'd unconsciously adopted. The <em>no, Admiral Ozzel, I am not certain that would be the best course of action</em> voice? The <em>please, Lord Vader, there are numerous reasons why this person should not be strangled</em> voice? The <em>Lars, for stars' sake, get some sleep</em> voice? "Your son is on that ship—he snuck on board, I had no control over it—and we did not come here to fight you."</p><p>She froze.</p><p>"My <em>son</em>?" she said, voice cold and dangerous. "And your blasters say otherwise, you—" She cut herself off when Piett pushed himself to his feet, scrambling for her blaster, but then she froze. "<em>Firmus</em>?"</p><p>"Ah. So it is her," Luke said, almost amicably.</p><p>Piett ignored him. "Hello, Carina," he greeted. She hadn't lowered her blaster; if anything, the storm in those dark blue eyes she'd given Luc had only intensified. He raised his hands in a vague surrender. "I didn't know you were a Rebel."</p><p>"Clearly, or you'd have turned me over to the Empire by now," she said. It... wasn't said coldly. It was just matter-of-fact, impersonal, and perhaps that was why it bothered Piett so much.</p><p>It made him think about what Aurelia had said to him, about his loyalty to his family versus the Empire, before they'd left.</p><p><em>You do know that you don't </em>have<em> to choose?</em></p><p>She'd been wrong.</p><p>"I wouldn't say that," he tried carefully.</p><p>Even Luke raised his eyebrows. Carina didn't bother responding—just snorted, and fired another warning shot. "Get <em>out of here</em>, Firmus. And whoever you dragged here with you."</p><p>"Luke Lars, my name is," Luke said loudly, and then, pointedly tossing his blaster aside, he stood up as well.</p><p>Piett stared at him. Stared at Carina, her tall stature perched behind the stack of crates a little way away. Stared at how her mouth dropped open.</p><p>Then she yanked up her blaster and fired.</p><p>Straight at Luke.</p><p>Piett watched his life flash before his eyes, but Luke didn't even <em>flinch</em>. He just raised a hand, and, with a swipe of his fingers—</p><p>The bolt flicked to the side, <em>bent</em> to the side, to miss him completely.</p><p>Carina gaped at Luke, who stood there with his eyes narrowed, lips slightly drawn back from his teeth in a snarl. It wasn't overtly threatening... but the moment she'd shot at him, it wasn't <em>friendly </em>either.</p><p>She shot again. And again. And again.</p><p>She missed every time. Eventually, Luke just flexed his hand and her blaster ripped out of her grip, coming to land in his. He threw it aside.</p><p>Piett was about to faint.</p><p>He'd— he'd suspected, Luke would have the same powers, but this— this—</p><p>"You recognised my name," Luke said loudly. "We did not come here to hurt you. We did not come here to hurt anyone. But you recognised my name, so I think you know <em>exactly</em> who we came here to save, and I think you know <em>exactly</em> where he is."</p><p>Luke had been on edge this whole time, Piett knew.</p><p>Now, he thought, he might have finally been pushed off.</p><p>Carina just glared. "And how do you know that, you almighty and powerful Sith? Does the Emperor know—"</p><p>"There is nothing for Palpatine to know. I am no Sith. And I want you to tell me where Lord Vader is." Luke's voice was... layered, oddly, with something compelling and strange and <em>intense</em>. Piett had to pause to shake it off—clearly, from the way she moved her head side to side, as if she were hearing invisible voices, Carina did too.</p><p>"What you want is of no concern to me."</p><p>"I'm sure it isn't," Luke drawled. "But I came here to find Vader. I won't be leaving without him."</p><p>Despite the absolute <em>terror</em> that Piett suddenly realised was on Carina's face as she looked at Luke—<em>Sith</em>, she'd called him, even if Luke had denied the accusation; a warrior, a magician, like Lord Vader?—she did not back down. "You won't find him, and if you do you will never be able to recover him without getting yourself killed. If you refuse to leave without him, then you will not be leaving at all."</p><p>Her gaze slid to Piett. "I'm sorry, Firmus. I don't want you to get hurt, and I don't want Aurelia hurt when she finds out what happened. But I don't trust you not to walk away and inform the Empire of this. Duty always comes first, for you."</p><p>Piett observed her for a moment, and observed the pang in his chest. Examined the situation at large.</p><p>He'd always known he would die one day, probably younger than he needed to. He had seen a warzone and he had joined it, multiple times. He had estranged his family, turned his back on his home, in his desire to strive to improve the galaxy in whatever way he could—and if calculating violence to fight the violent was what he was good at, then so be it.</p><p>But he had expected to die when the ship exploded, in a shower of sparks and stardust; asphyxiated, falling to Lord Vader's feet as he'd seen so many men do; or even from sickness, worsened by stress. Max had told him so often that he'd get grey hairs from his fussing—had told him that the stress he was under was hardly good for his health. Max had talked him into giving in and going on this holiday to visit Aurelia and Luc and Carina in the first place.</p><p>He had not expected to be killed by family.</p><p>"Loyalty comes first for me," he corrected her gently, eyeing the way she eyed her blaster, scattered on the floor a little to the right. "As clearly it does for you."</p><p>She swallowed. He saw her tense, glance at Luke—the intense way he was studying her, like he was dissecting her with his mind. Saw her get ready to lunge for the blaster, or shout for help, or bring countless opponents down on their heads at once—</p><p>And then, the oddest thing of all happened:</p><p>Luke began to sing.</p><p>"<em>Mirrorbright, shines the moon</em>," he sang, "<em>its glow as soft as an ember</em>."</p><p>Carina <em>jerked</em> back, staring. "What—"</p><p>"<em>When the moon is mirrorbright, take this time to remember</em>."</p><p>She laughed. It was a harsh sound; horrible. "You're singing a <em>lullaby</em>?" she asked. "An <em>Alderaanian lullaby</em>?" Her voice was shaky; there was something else going on here, it meant something else; Piett just didn't know what.</p><p>"<em>Those you have loved but are gone,</em>" Luke smiled, "<em>those who kept you so safe and warm</em>."</p><p>"What is the <em>point</em> of this?" The blaster was forgotten. Luke's face was impassive, calm.</p><p>"<em>The mirrorbright moon lets you see, those who have ceased to be</em>." He held her gaze the whole time, in <em>challenge</em>. "<em>Mirrorbright shines the moon, as stars die to their embers</em>..."</p><p>And Carina <em>froze</em>.</p><p>She... she didn't <em>sigh</em>. She sucked in a breath, deeply, and stared. "What. That's— that's not the line—"</p><p>"<em>Those who you loved are with you still</em>," he finished quietly—almost sadly. "<em>The moon will help you remember</em>."</p><p>Luke fell quiet for a moment there, and all that was left in the warehouse was Carina's shock and Piett's confusion. It was— it was a <em>lullaby</em>. An Alderaanian lullaby; one he'd once heard Carina sing to Luc, the last time he'd seen them. What—</p><p>"Alderaan has no moon," Luke said. "But it almost did, and you know it too."</p><p>"I do know it," she snapped, then slowed down. "It— it was why I joined the Rebellion, and became a spy in the Axxilan police force. But..." She fixed him with a hard look, and spoke more slowly, "That wasn't the right line." She paused again, like she couldn't believe it herself. "That was the wrong line—the right line is '<em>fires</em> die to their embers'—"</p><p>"It is."</p><p>"You know the code phrase?" she demanded. "<em>How</em>?"</p><p>Piett blinked.</p><p>Looked between them—Luke's deep, stoic breathing, his hands suddenly held up, placating, again; Carina's more rapid breaths, but they slowed as Luke spoke, and she realised—</p><p>"How do you think Leia Organa escaped the Death Star?"</p><p>Luke had been stationed on the battle station before it was destroyed—had been conveniently transferred <em>off</em> before it was destroyed, Piett remembered.</p><p>And—</p><p>"She told you the code phrase?"</p><p>"She did. If I ever needed it. You know where it came from." He smirked a little. "Conversing with other undercover Rebel agents was exactly why she told it to me."</p><p>Piett <em>gaped</em>.</p><p>Horror struck him—staring between Luke and Carina again, suddenly not antagonistic, suddenly not enemies, but— but—</p><p>
  <em>Co-conspirators?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Rebels?</em>
</p><p>He glared at Luke. "You're—"</p><p>"Are you going to report me for this, Captain?" Luke asked, amused.</p><p>"Lord Vader—"</p><p>"—is implicit in this," he said simply.</p><p>Piett had had the rug ripped out from under him during the past day. Then it had been the floorboards themselves. Then the building's foundations.</p><p>Now the very planet he stood on seemed to have vanished.</p><p>"Lord Vader..." he said aloud. To be fair, even Carina looked shocked at that. "...a... traitor...?"</p><p>"Were you a fan of the Death Star, Firmus?" Luke fixed him with a look. "Of a battle station with the capability to destroy entire planets?"</p><p>"I..."</p><p>"Would you have been a fan of it," Luke continued, "if it had carried out the plan Tarkin concocted and destroyed Alderaan, as its example to the galaxy of what it could do?"</p><p>Piett felt like the wind had been pummelled from his lungs.</p><p>"It was going to destroy Alderaan?" He couldn't believe that. Well, he could—what was the point of a planet killer if it didn't kill a few planets?—but to know about such a station intellectually and to know the impact it would have truly had were... staggeringly different. He looked at Carina, at the pale face, the grim set of her jaw and her frown, and wondered.</p><p>Billions of people dead. One of the central bastions of culture and trade, the jewel of the Core, more so than Coruscant could ever be. Gone?</p><p>Gone.</p><p>"That..." He closed his mouth. Swallowed tightly. His throat suddenly seemed very dry. Alderaan had been under martial law since the Battle of Yavin anyway, its royal family disgraced and fleeing into the night to join the fight on the frontlines, but that... "That would have been abominable."</p><p>"It would have," Carina agreed loudly. "So here we are. If Princess Leia hadn't destroyed the Death Star, that would have happened to Yavin, and then to Alderaan."</p><p>"But Lord Vader..." It hit him like a speeder. "Lord Vader flew in the Battle of Yavin. He was the only survivor."</p><p>Luke crossed his arms across his chest. "He's the greatest starpilot in the galaxy, Firmus. Didn't you think there was a reason Leia wasn't shot down before she could fire?"</p><p>Piett didn't know what to think. He didn't know which way was up anymore. If he wasn't careful, gravity would stop working any minute.</p><p>That was alright; no one was paying attention to him anymore, anyway. Luke just turned back to Carina.</p><p>"So I'm going to ask again," he said, his pleading tones increasingly desperate, "<em>where is Vader</em>. He is <em>missing</em>, and the Emperor is going mad, getting suspicious, and—"</p><p>"And he's your father."</p><p>Gravity stopped working.</p><p>Piett whipped his head to stare at Luke, at that—at the fact he <em>didn't deny it</em>. At the fact he just stood there, tense, hands balled into fists... and then, slowly and agonisingly, he reached up to wipe tears from his eyes. It didn't help; they streamed down his face anyway, and his eyes glistened in the dim light.</p><p>Carina continued gently, "You're Luke Lars, right? He kept calling out to you. Half-conscious, but that was the only word he could form. It was... nerve-wracking, hit too close to home, hearing what sounded like <em>Luc, Luc, Luc</em> in an never ending litany, so I thought you might be his son."</p><p>She shrugged. "Then I dismissed the thought, but..." She gestured to her blaster, far away from her. "Your demonstration makes that clear." Silence reigned for a few heartbeats.</p><p>Finally, Piett had the nerve to ask, "Is it true?"</p><p>Luke sighed. Blinked fiercely, and after that, no more tears fell.</p><p>"Yes," he said. "It's true. Please, Carina. Tell me where my father is."</p><p>He sucked in a breath that seemed to rattle. "I want this... conspiracy we're planning, this coup against Palpatine, to succeed. We can't do that without him. But most of all... I want my father back."</p><p>Carina barely hesitated before she said, "There's another warehouse, a few levels down. He was captured by pirates—I was hunting them when I found their base, where they were keeping him. I was moments away from contacting... <em>somebody</em>, I don't know, doing something, but somehow they suspected I had Rebel ties and convinced me to strike a deal with Rebel High Command. They'd do anything to get their hands on Vader, after all. I went to the outpost on Yavin Four to get a message back to the main base..."</p><p>"So it was pirates who captured him after all," Luke observed in a monotonous voice. "I was fairly sure that High Command themselves wouldn't authorise such a ridiculous plan." He had not said that to Piett at the time, and Piett felt slighted. "Who hired the pirates?"</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"The pirates. If they're smart enough to keep Darth Vader contained, they're smart enough to know they shouldn't. Who put them up to it?"</p><p>Carina shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't ask. I was too... unnerved."</p><p>Then, despite himself, despite <em>everything</em>, Piett laughed.</p><p>It was a slightly maniacal laugh, he had to concede. It seemed to come from nowhere. It started, then climbed in pitch again and again and again, and he couldn't stop chuckling. Luke and Carina stared at him.</p><p>Then he said, "Yes. Lord Vader tends to be like that."</p><p>"Where is he?" Luke said. "Can you give me coordinates?"</p><p>"Better." Carina <em>did</em> move to pick up her blaster, then—but she didn't need to. Luke reached out a hand and summoned it to him, then tossed it to her. She raised her eyebrows but said nothing, only allowed a slight smirk to climb onto her face. "I can take you there."</p><p>"What about the ship?" Piett asked. "What about Luc?"</p><p>Carina glanced at Piett's ship—Piett tried not to feel offence at her derisive snort—then back at him. When Piett looked, he could see Luc's face as a smudge against the window, scowling. "Well, the last few days have shown that you're a <em>stellar</em> babysitter, Firmus," she said with a wicked grin. "Why don't you stay here and look after him, while I take <em>Luke</em> <em>Lars</em> down to rescue his father?"</p><p>"Skywalker," Luke corrected. "If we're all coming clean about everything, my name is Luke Skywalker."</p><p>Piett was already ready to faint. This did nothing to him. "Alright," he said. "Why not." Then he glared at Carina. "And really? Is <em>that</em> your plan?"</p><p>"Of course not." She snorted. "You'd be safer coming with us into blasterfire; Luc would eat you alive. I'll comm Aurelia, get her to come down here."</p><p>"Are you going to explain all of this to her?" Piett asked. "How you're a Rebel?"</p><p>"What makes you think she doesn't already know?" Carina shot back.</p><p>Another little piece of Piett's galaxy crumbled—Aurelia's concern the whole trip suddenly made horrible sense—but he took a deep breath. He could run across the quicksand that was his foundational beliefs. He walked on eggshells around Vader enough times.</p><p>Carina turned away to comm Aurelia. Piett and Luke exchanged a look—Luke opened his mouth with a contrite look, an apology clearly on the tip of his tongue, but Piett shook his head with a slight smile and nodded. Luke closed his mouth again and grinned back.</p><p>A great weight seemed to have rolled off his shoulders, but there was yet another still remaining. Luke was antsy, ready to barge in and rescue— and rescue <em>his father</em>, and Piett was going to face his commanding officer in less than ideal circumstances.</p><p>He couldn't think of a more fitting way to end this entire shitshow.</p><hr/><p>Piett had had a dramatic day and a half and this was how it ended: storming the pirates' headquarters with his Rebel sister-in-law and the son of the heir apparent to the Empire, blasters gripped tightly in their hands.</p><p>Carina led them several blocks east and several levels down, into the depths of a planet Piett had patrolled far too often. He didn't miss how despite Luke's quiet self-assuredness—the sort of confidence and unshakeable steadfastness that the father had clearly taught the son—he found it much more difficult to pick his way through Axxila's sloping, not-always-stellar architecture, their crumbling arches and ways, than Carina and Piett did.</p><p>It was petty, but Piett found himself enjoying it. Luke clearly noticed—he stuck his tongue out at Piett at one point, and nearly went over the side of the railing when he tripped two seconds later.</p><p>"Hush," Carina said. "We're coming up here."</p><p>"Up where?" Luke crouched behind her on the ledge. It was a side alley she'd led them to, ditching their speeder a few twists and turns back, the airspaces far too tight to fly through. Climbing was not fun, clambering even less so, but now Piett sort of understood Luke's fearlessness when he walked. He may stumble, he may fall, but he supposed that with those sorcerer's ways he shared with Lord Vader, he had no fear of the devastation that would come once he hit the bottom.</p><p>Still, seeing him crouched so close to the edge activated Piett's instincts—instincts that said <em>do not do anything that would antagonise Lord Vader into killing you.</em></p><p>Letting his son die fell under that bracket.</p><p>"Sir," he said, and watched both Carina and Luke frown as they tried to figure out who he was addressing with that, before Luke's eyes blew wide and he stifled a snort. Carina had told them to hush, after all. "Please move away from the edge. And when we go in, if there is a firefight, you'll need to—"</p><p>"I grew up on Tatooine, <em>Captain</em>," Luke shot back, and Piett scowled at the jab. "I've been in firefights before; I know what to do with them."</p><p>Tatooine. He'd told Piett that already, but now it was fitting together. Lord Vader's <em>son</em>, who was essentially a <em>prince</em> of the <em>Empire</em>, had grown up on <em>Tatooine</em>—</p><p>
  <em>I wanted to see the stars. If I could've got there by joining a Rebel academy and flying for the Rebellion, I would've gone there just as quickly. Not much of anything back on Tatooine, except apathy.</em>
</p><p>Piett swallowed.</p><p>
  <em>How did you become Lord Vader's aide?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>My father insisted it was for my own good. I'm inclined to listen to him.</em>
</p><p>This made no kriffing sense.</p><p>
  <em>I can see why my father likes you too.</em>
</p><p>Stars, all the clues really had been there, hadn't they.</p><p>And—<em>Lord Vader</em> <em>liked</em>—</p><p>"Now, the pirates' complex is basically another warehouse, and they have ventilation windows, right at the top of the storage rooms," Carina said, pointing to a row of slots that ran along the walkway ahead of them, shuttered with metal. "That's where they come out. Vader is kept in a smaller, administrative room that ought to be a computer room off the side of the main one, which is this one here." She pointed a little farther ahead. "I have rope and a grappling hook; all we need to do to get in is get the windows open, then we can abseil down."</p><p>"How are we getting <em>out</em>?" Piett had to ask nervously. "We don't know what state Lord Vader is in."</p><p>"You—Lars. Luke." Carina winced; apparently Luc and Luke having basically the same names was just as weird for her, too. "How powerful are you with the Sith stuff? Can you levitate things?"</p><p>"Still not a Sith," Luke huffed. "But yes. I can."</p><p>"Can you levitate something as big as Vader for an extended period of time? You can always carry him, I suppose, but..." She ran a critical eye up and down Luke, then—to his offence, <em>again</em>—Piett. "That doesn't seem likely."</p><p>Luke laughed softly. "I can levitate him, yeah. Hopefully he'll be awake and able to walk, but I can do it. Size matters not."</p><p>Piett decided not to ask.</p><p>"Great. Now stand back." Carina stood up, walked along the walkway, cocked her blaster, and aimed at one of the windows. "This is gonna be loud, and there should be two pirates guarding Vader at any one time; they'll hear the noise and shout, then we have to get down there, get Vader, and be ready to fight our way out by the time the other pirates come running—"</p><p>The window slid open soundlessly.</p><p>Carina gaped at it. Luke shrugged.</p><p>"Sith stuff," he quipped back at her. Carina grinned, almost; Piett got the feeling she liked Luke already. Which was good for her, but while Piett could feel an exponentially growing <em>fondness</em> for everyone here, he was also getting extremely irritated by every action that occurred, ever. "And..."</p><p>He closed his eyes, concentrated, then relaxed his shoulders.</p><p>"The guards are out cold," he said. "Let's go."</p><p>Climbing down the rope was an experience Piett had not missed and was not in any hurry to repeat. Luke was obviously significantly younger than him, and even Carina was of an age with Aurelia, who was quite a bit younger as well. They could laugh at him all they wanted, but there was a <em>reason</em> Piett had switched to officer's work, and all in all this was a <em>deeply </em>unpleasant experience. He had never been more grateful to have his feet on solid flooring when they got down. It was a vast, cavernous hall, stacked to the brim with crates of unknown substances—probably spice; you never forgot exactly what that smelt like—as secondary walls. He moved silently down one of the aisles they formed and grimaced when he saw the small door at the end—with the pirates' unconscious bodies lying outside it. One Weequay; one human.</p><p>But he didn't flinch. He bent down to take their blasters, set them to kill—it didn't take a genius to figure out why they were on stun—and shot them. Luke's eyes went wide, as the shots punched right through their chests, but took a shaking breath.</p><p>He might call it underhanded, to kill an unconscious person like that. But so long as they were certain not to wake up and interrupt them, Piett didn't care. His entire job was killing Rebels and pirates.</p><p>And now, here he was colluding with two.</p><p>Destiny was strange, he mused. He wondered what Lord Vader—what Luke—and all his powers had to say about <em>that</em>.</p><p>"Can you get this door open the way you did the window?" Carina whispered to Luke.</p><p>Luke didn't respond. He was staring at the door, face pale, and the <em>longing</em> in those eyes was too intense for Piett to bear looking at. He glanced away—saw, out of the corner of his eye, Luke bow his head, take a deep breath, and nod.</p><p>"He's definitely in there," he said. "My feelings confirm it."</p><p><em>My feelings</em>. Oh, stars, what had Piett got himself into.</p><p>Then Luke reached out a hand, and the door sprang open.</p><p>It revealed, at first, nothing. Then Luke moved forwards, fast enough that he seemed desperate, or like he knew what he was doing, or both, and the lights flickered on. That was when Piett laid eyes on the walls stripped bare of computer terminals, the small window to another room that had been boarded up, the chains that ran from where they were deeply embedded in the walls to snake around...</p><p>If that was not Lord Vader, then it was a large, broken puppet meant to depict the man.</p><p>Luke ran forwards and collapsed to his knees in front of him immediately. Carina was watching with unabashed curiosity, but Piett found something in him warring to look away, even as he knew that if the Empire itself was crashing and burning at his back, he <em>could not</em> tear his eyes away from this sight.</p><p>Vader was lying half-propped up against the wall, his arms dangling haphazardly from the chains embedded at shoulder level, his mask slumped forwards. There were deep, deep gashes in his legs around his boots that sparked with electricity; for a moment, fear of an entirely unnameable sort shot through Piett before he looked closer and saw that the legs were prosthetic. Still not good, but...</p><p>Luke reached for Vader's mask with trembling hands and spoke with a trembling voice: "Father..."</p><p>His voice cracked on the word. He leaned forwards, bowed his head against that mask and closed his eyes in anguish, screwed them in concentration, reaching... reaching...</p><p>"He's drugged," he said quietly, out loud, not opening his eyes. "Keep an eye on the door. Carina, how often do people come to relieve the guards?"</p><p>"I don't know."</p><p>"Then we don't know how long we have until someone realises we're here. We're living on borrowed time." He opened his eyes, climbed over Vader's shin so he was kneeling between his spread legs, with easy access to his head and torso. Pushed his sleeves up to reveal muscled arms, and laid his hands on his shoulders. Closed his eyes again. "I'm going to use the Force to remove the drug from his bloodstream—he could've done this himself, but I suspect they knocked him out too soon to do anything like that. Once he's awake, I can start working on his legs."</p><p>"I'm a handy mechanic," Carina offered. "I can work on them."</p><p>"I..." Luke tried to say delicately. "I don't think he'd want you to."</p><p>Carina shrugged. "Fair enough."</p><p>Piett didn't know how long he sat there, watching Luke Skywalker scrunch his face up in increasingly comical ways, until that respirator finally ended its constant, dim rasp and <em>spluttered</em> instead, Lord Vader's head seizing up and lurching forwards, his hands scrabbling where they were bound. Luke ran a gentle hand over the cuffs and unlocked them before they could be a hindrance, and caught the flailing limbs before they hit him. "Father."</p><p>Strangely enough, that seemed to motivate <em>more</em> struggling, more intense fights to get free, before Luke had the audacity to reach up to touch Vader's mask and reiterate, more firmly, "<em>Father</em>. It's me. I'm here. You're... you're not safe, but you will be soon. We'll both be safe."</p><p>One of Vader's hands came up then, trailing chains before they fell off, and Piett <em>gawked</em> as it reached for Luke's face. It caressed his cheek, as gentle as those hands were violent; Luke leaned into the touch with a fearsome... familiarity, and yearning, that unlocked <em>something</em> in Piett's heart, though he had not the faintest idea what it was.</p><p>When he looked up at Carina, she was looking away.</p><p>"Luke," Vader murmured, his words slurring together, "Luke, what are you..."</p><p>"We're getting you out. I need to work on your legs so you can walk; can you help me? I'm not as familiar with them, though I have some tools in my pack."</p><p>"Luke... you need to leave."</p><p>Luke shook his head fiercely and pulled away, ignoring how his father's hand hovered in midair between them, still reaching for him, before it dropped. "No. <em>No</em>. I came all the way to Axxila to find you, I've come this far, I am <em>not leaving</em>. Help me with your legs."</p><p>"Axxila..." Vader's gaze seemed to move to Piett then, and Piett did his best to... stand to attention. Stand to attention but look like he wasn't <em>paying</em> attention. Absolutely not. "Captain?" A threat was crystallising in his voice, like ice on the air...</p><p>"He helped me find you, I wouldn't have got this far without him," Luke soothed, pulling some tools out of his bag and turning towards Vader's legs. "These don't look too deep, actually—what did those pirates do, hack at your legs with a vibroblade and think that was enough when you stopped walking? Idiots—"</p><p>Vader wheezed a laugh. "Indeed, son."</p><p>"This won't take long." Luke frowned down at it in a way that sort of belied that statement. "In the meantime... what..." he swallowed. "What happened? One moment you were on your way to Dathomir, then there's radio silence from your shuttle and—"</p><p>Vader tilted his helmet to look directly at Luke, Piett forgotten. "You were afraid."</p><p>"<em>Of course</em> I was afraid! I thought you were dead!" Luke shivered, paused what he was doing, then got back to work.</p><p>"If I was, son, you would have been fine. You are intelligent and resourceful enough to survive in the galaxy, and Palpatine does not know the truth about you—"</p><p>"I don't <em>care</em> about me!" Luke exploded. "I don't— I don't <em>care</em> that I would've lost my only protector! I cared because <em>I thought I'd lost you!</em>"</p><p>He even put the tool down, then, to stare at his father; both Piett and (he suspected) Vader were taken aback to see tears in his eyes, again.</p><p>"You <em>terrified</em> me! Don't you <em>dare</em> do that again! I—"</p><p>"Luke," Vader tried to calm him, "I am here."</p><p>Luke ground out, "You almost weren't. I <em>told you</em>, I told you I had a bad feeling about that mission, that Palpatine was being... leery, and <em>you had a bad feeling about it too</em>, but you had to go and obey orders and run some mindless errand in the Outer Rim—"</p><p>"It needed to be done, for the sake of the Empire. I could not delegate it."</p><p>"Yeah, well." Luke turned back to the leg and kept tweaking. "Maybe your family needs you just as much as the Empire does."</p><p>Piett sucked in a breath, Aurelia's accusatory face flashing before his eyes. Fortunately, neither father nor son noticed.</p><p>"You are perfectly capable of protecting yourself, the fact that you made it here, just to rescue me—"</p><p>"<em>Just</em> to rescue you!?" Luke wasn't even looking his father in the eye as he ranted now, which somehow made it worse. "I wouldn't have got here if it wasn't for Piett, and his sister, and his sister-in-law, and his <em>nephew</em>—sometimes, Father, families are <em>important to helping you out</em>. And I already said. I don't need or want my protector."</p><p>He finished with what he was doing, putting the tool away. Then he sighed.</p><p>"But I do need my father," he finished quietly. "Now. Try to stand up."</p><p>Vader said, "Luke..."</p><p>"Try to stand up, Father. The sooner we can get out of here, the better. I think Palpatine knows I'm Force-sensitive—he kept telling me to let you die and go to meet him on Coruscant—and I don't know if he knows about the Death Star, or the coup, but he might well know about us. We need to get out of here if we're going to plan our next move."</p><p>"Palpatine was telling you to let me be lost?" Vader demanded</p><p>"Yes. Do— do you know who ordered those pirates to... capture or dispose of you?"</p><p>Vader said, through what sounded like gritted teeth, "No. I do not. But I think..."</p><p>Father and son exchanged a look.</p><p>"We can think about that later," Luke said. "Get up."</p><p>"We need to—" Vader tried to object, but when his son glared at him he huffed, and pushed himself off the wall.</p><p>He rose to his full, towering height slowly; the feeling was peculiarly like watching one of those old, large, water-ships sinking, but in reverse. Piett craned his head to look up at him and gulped... and then the spell was broken when Vader staggered, nearly fell, and Luke had to catch him. The poor boy looked tiny under his father's massive frame, but he held him steady. He even wrapped his arms around Vader's torso and buried his face in his chest, taking advantage of the moment Vader's cape obscured them both. Piett thought he might've seen Vader rest his hands against Luke's back to return the hug, but he wasn't sure—after all, the cape was in the way, and Luke was dwarfed by it all.</p><p><em>His mother must have been short...</em> Piett thought, then <em>instantly</em> banished the idea. Curiosity into business that was not one's own, particularly when that business was that of Lord kriffing Vader himself, was rarely rewarded.</p><p>But Vader, unfortunately enough, noticed Piett and Carina then, and noticeably stiffened. "Captain Piett," he greeted. Piett was used to having a commanding finger wag in his face; there it was now, and it was perhaps the most familiar and stable thing about the whole blasted situation. "I trust you understand what it will mean if you misstep, here. If you value your discretion adequately, I may value your life in return."</p><p>Piett swallowed, but stood up a little straighter; <em>this</em> was common ground. "Yes, my lord."</p><p>Behind his back, Carina <em>gaped</em> at the way he <em>thrived</em> at the death threat.</p><p>"And you." Vader turned on her then, and she fought to wrestle the panic off her face. "You are?"</p><p>"Carina Antilles," she said smoothly.</p><p>"You are a Rebel."</p><p>Carina was fazed, clearly, but she didn't let that stop her. "A Rebel who helped your son."</p><p>Vader gave her a nod of respect and turned away. Piett was left gobsmacked.</p><p>"Luke?" Vader asked. "How do you intend to get us out of here?"</p><p>Luke, who was still doing his best to extricate himself from Vader's cape, opened his mouth, but Carina beat him to it.</p><p>"I found your lightsaber just outside, Vader," she said; although the lack of respect in her tone or address gave Piett a near aneurysm, as did the flippant way she tossed Vader the lightsaber, Vader did not react.</p><p>Piett suspected the pointed look from Luke had something to do with <em>that.</em></p><p>Instead, Vader just took the lightsaber and, after Luke stood back, lit it. The hungry <em>hum</em> filled the air with static, sending hair prickling along the back of Piett's neck, but it was then that they exited the smaller room to find the comlinks of the two dead guards bleeping incessantly. It was then that both Luke and Vader tensed up; Vader strode forwards, his gait now steady and strong. Piett and Carina heard it a moment later: the clatter of running footsteps, shouting, the whirring of weapons—</p><p>When Lord Vader spoke, it was with a viciousness Piett had rarely heard.</p><p>"Captain," he said. "Keep Luke out of harm's way."</p><p>And then he tore into the waves after waves of pirates that came for them like a hurricane made flesh, bone and metal.</p><hr/><p>Playing host to Lord Darth Vader and his son was a strange experience that Piett doubted Aurelia wanted to repeat, ever again, but she was happy to do it now, nonetheless.</p><p>Carina rapped on the door with an oddly musical, rhythmic pattern, and Aurelia's footsteps came <em>running</em> on the other side, Luc's cry of "Mama!" sounding from beyond as well. The door hissed open, Aurelia's face was eclipsed by relief; for a moment, Carina fell on her and Piett's sister didn't even notice the three men standing on her doorstep, too wrapped up in her wife.</p><p>Piett looked away. That was not something he wanted to see his baby sister doing.</p><p>Luc came running up to them, though, and he... was far less distracted. He was grinning the moment he saw Luke, and the way Luke bent down to greet him properly—but then he clapped eyes on Vader and his eyes went wide.</p><p>"No <em>way</em>!" he breathed. "Are— are you—"</p><p>Vader's vocoder made a sound that might have been him preparing to growl something, but Luke jabbed him in the side with an elbow. They exchanged a look that Piett could only begin to guess at the deeper meaning of, then Vader unleashed a great sigh.</p><p>"Yes," Luke said, giving his father yet another pointed look. "He's Darth Vader."</p><p>Luc babbled. Vader tolerated it. Luke smiled.</p><p>Piett, watching them, smiled too.</p><p>At one point, when he turned his back, he thought he might have heard Vader murmur to Luke, "If this is what you were like at nine years old, young one, I wish I had been there to see it."</p><p>Luke laughed slightly. "Oh, you do not. I was even worse. Aunt Beru could barely contain me."</p><p>"Believe me," Vader replied, turning his helmet down to make eye contact with Luc, "I do."</p><p>But Piett wasn't absolutely sure he heard it—that would, after all, not be something his commanding officer would want him to hear, and therefore not something he should have heard at all—so he dismissed it, and let the warmth in his chest just... linger, reasonless.</p><p>"L— Lord Vader," Aurelia said when there finally came the time that she had to acknowledge his presence. Carina's nerves from earlier seemed to have vanished in the presence of her more timid wife, and she was smirking slightly to herself. "It— it's an honour to have you in our humble household—"</p><p>"Your <em>wife</em>—" That was not anger in Vader's voice. Piett knew what his anger sounded like. It was something more like pain. "—has already admitted to being a Rebel, and I have no doubt you supported her endeavours."</p><p>Carina said, "And your son has admitted to being a Rebel, as well—and from what <em>I've</em> heard, <em>you</em> supported <em>his</em> endeavours, too."</p><p>Vader was silent for a moment. "Indeed," he finally said. And he said no more.</p><p>Things settled down. And later...</p><p>"I go mad with worry when I find out Luc's missing, you send me a cryptic comm telling me to come pick the boy up from where you're about to walk into a <em>firefight</em>, and then you bring <em>Darth kriffing Vader</em> into our home without warning me?" Aurelia shouted at Carina in their bedroom. From what Piett could hear, there wasn't anger in that voice; just stress.</p><p>The Piett siblings were good at dealing with stress.</p><p>"Yes," Carina said in response, "I did. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."</p><p>"I'm sure it won't," Aurelia grumbled, but it was clear she was forgiven. "I didn't marry you because you had a tendency to be <em>calm</em>."</p><p>Carina added cheerfully, "Or sane."</p><p>"Or sane," Aurelia agreed, and then their words were replaced with silence, and Piett thought he might know what they were doing, so he skedaddled from that part of the flat as soon as he could.</p><p>He found Luke in the kitchen, sitting at the table and watching the stove. Aurelia had... she'd offered to have the Vaders—the Larses? The Skywalkers?—round for dinner that night, just to be polite, then they could sleep on Piett's ship and fly back to the <em>Executor</em> in the morning, and Luke had insisted on watching the stove while she caught up with her wife. He was there now, with another small mug of milk which Piett thought looked vaguely like vomit, his gaze very, very far away.</p><p>"What is that?" Piett asked, trying to keep the disgust out of his voice. He failed.</p><p>Luke chuckled. "It's blue milk—from Tatooine. Apparently Aurelia had it in the cupboard for cooking specific things, but she barely uses it, so she asked if I wanted some."</p><p>"And you <em>did</em>?"</p><p>Luke just smiled, and lifted his mug to his lips to sip some more. "It tastes a lot better when you grew up with it. Much like tashe."</p><p>"Tashe tastes delicious."</p><p>"Uh huh."</p><p>Piett kept eye contact with Luke until he was forced to drop it, the humour in those eyes too arresting to oppose.</p><p>"You look tired," he offered instead. "Surely, now that you've got your father back, you can sleep?"</p><p>Luke grimaced, putting his mug down. "I'm sorry about... well, not lying, but not telling you about that. You were kind to me, and it wasn't at all that I didn't trust you, but you understand it's a closely kept secret."</p><p>"And yet you allowed the whole of the Piett-Antilles branch of the family to know?"</p><p>Luke shrugged. "They're <em>your</em> family, aren't they? That speaks for them more than I can say."</p><p>Piett didn't know quite how to respond to that.</p><p>Instead, he just sat at the table next to Luke. "May I try some?"</p><p>Luke smiled. "Go ahead. It's in the cupboard over the sink."</p><p>Piett busied himself with fetching some, the movements soothing and repetitive. It was when his back was turned to Luke that he reiterated, "You do look tired, though. Does your father not want you to sleep?"</p><p>"My father is too tired himself to badger me right now—which is saying something, I can tell you." Piett still cringed at the concept of <em>Lord Vader</em> badgering anyone, but he just... reached for the milk.</p><p>Piett poured himself a mug of it and went back to sit beside Luke, wrapping his hands around his drink. "This... coup you and your father were discussing," he said carefully. "It—"</p><p>"I can give you more details later, Firmus, I understand—"</p><p>"I'm in."</p><p>"Huh?"</p><p>Piett lifted his mug to his lips and tried not to splutter when it touched his tongue.</p><p>"I'm in," he repeated, even as he gagged.</p><p>Luke tilted his head back and laughed</p><p>"I would suggest you take a break in the meantime, though," Piett said idly. "This will take a great deal of planning, if you intend to go after the Emperor, and... between all of this, you've had a lot of stress lately. Make sure you take some time to relax—visit your family on Tatooine, or that sister you mentioned. Go on a trip."</p><p>"Captain Piett," Luke joked. He lifted his drink of milk towards Piett, as if to toast something. "Are you telling me to go on holiday?"</p><p>"Perhaps I am." Despite himself, that smile was infectious, and he caught it. He lifted his own mug to clink it against Luke's. "It's certainly been an eye opener for me."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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